Some hospices have inpatient units in which their staff cares for patients 24 hrs/day. How would this be reflected on their claim?
CMS clarified in Transmittal 1494, dated April 29, 2008, that all GIP and respite visits related to the palliation and management of the terminal illness or related conditions provided in hospice-owned facilities must be reported. Even though a nurse may go into a patient’s room several times a day, the only visits recorded on the claim will be those that constitute “visit” as described above. Also, the CR states that “Items and services within that visits are not counted as separate visits”. So if they do three things (dressing change, check blood pressure and respiratory functions) in one “visit”, that constitutes one visit, not three. NOTE: CMS revised CR 5567 on April 29, 2008, to temporarily suspend reporting of visit data from non-hospice staff in contracted facilities under GIP (revenue code 656) and respite (revenue code 655).
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