Welcome to the HealthPRO Heritage Blog

Occupational Therapy is One of a Kind!
The unique profession of occupational therapy, deeply rooted in science, focuses on helping individuals across their lifespan to do the things they want or deem necessary to do through the therapeutic use of daily activities or occupations. OT practitioners (occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants) enable individuals of all ages to live life to its fullest by helping them promote health and wellness, and prevent or adapt to an injury, illness or disability.

More than ever before, home health agencies need a broad array of clinical programs to attract and effectively manage clinical complexity. And, given the current staffing environment, this can be pretty challenging. However, perhaps one strategic move agencies can make to maintain and grow caseload is to engage a trusted therapy partner to bring specialty programs & expanded skillsets to their overall clinical approach. In turn, this may allow agencies to accept more referrals and expand caseload across payer sources.

On Friday (April 10), CMS issued the FY2021 SNF PPS Proposed Rule (effective October 1, 2020) and proposes unsurprising payment rate adjustments, changes to the case-mix classification code mappings, and tweaks for the SNF Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) Program. Considering recent pressures related to the COVID-19 crisis, the SNF industry is taking a collective sigh of relief.

HealthPRO Heritage has pulled together what promises to be a rich discussion between several thought-leaders to share perspective & best practices developed thus far in the response efforts to COVID-19. This is in collaboration with: CliftonLarsonAllen, MatrixCare, Johnson Kendall & Johnson, Net Health, and Ziegler. 

Skilled nursing facility operators must recognize that partnerships with hospitals have never been more important than now. HealthPRO Heritage offers strategy & tangible resources to support efforts to collaborate with local hospitals amidst the COVID-19 crisis.

1. New Survey Guidance
In response to the national emergency declaration as a result of COVID-19, CMS has recently issued a new memorandum to State Survey Agency Directors. For a 3-week time period only, beginning 3/20/20, the following survey types will be prioritized:

Currently home health agencies are fighting to stay productive and profitable in the PDGM operating environment, now compounded by the COVID-19 national emergency. While this week’s CMS COVID-19 rulings feature many great new proposals, home health agencies may remain feeling somewhat puzzled about the practical implications of what was actually released. HealthPRO-Heritage is here to help break down the confusion. The below chart provides insight on what these new proposals actually mean for home health agencies going forward. Here is what we know so far: