Many families and elderly patients are now increasingly considering Hospital-at-home and SNF-at-home models. Private Duty Nursing Home Care agencies are uniquely positioned to take advantage of this trend and grow. Private Duty Nursing Agencies can partner with Hospital Systems or Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) to provide skilled care at home.

Leveraging technology and the right software platform will help Private Duty Nursing Home Care Agencies to implement strategies to effectively manage Electronic Medication and Treatment Administration and ensure patient safety.

Private Duty Home Care agencies can use the right technology and software platform to manage the challenges posed by unique and demanding requirements of providing skilled care at home. Using the right tools will enable home health care agencies to bring operational efficiencies to the organization and take advantage of these new opportunities.

Starting January 1, 2022, Medicare will require Home Health Agencies to submit a one-time Notice of Admission (NOA) instead of Request for anticipated Payment (RAP). Medicare has been phasing out RAP payments for the last two years. The NOA is a one-time submission that establishes the HH POC and covers 30-day payment periods until the patient is discharged.

Software platforms will have to be adjusted to accommodate the new PDGM billing process. The following are some of the requirements.

Comprehensive, consistent, and complete clinical documentation is critical for home health care agencies for the quality of care to the patient and optimum reimbursement. Improving the quality of clinical documentation will significantly enhance the quality of care and patient satisfaction while reducing the risk of compliance issues during surveys. Compliance issues during the survey may lead to reimbursement delays or reductions.

Home Health Care Agencies should implement Clinical Documentation Improvement (CDI) programs to understand that clinical documentation starts at referral and must be managed throughout patient care (Admit through Discharge).