Changes Coming to Medicare HIC Numbers – Medicare Beneficiary Identifier

By Aaron Carey / Posted on: June 22, 2017 5 minutes to read

Former President Harry S. Truman was the very first Medicare beneficiary to be issued a Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN) when then President Lyndon B Johnson signed the Medicare program into law on July 30, 1965. Ever since then, Medicare beneficiaries upon entitlement, have been issued a Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN). The primary issuer of the HICN is the social security administration with the railroad retirement Board issuing HIC numbers for railroad workers. Beginning in 2018 the Medicare HIC number will be replaced with a new identifier called a Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI). The MBI numbers will be…

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Hospice Quality Reporting Program Update – HIS and Hospice Compare

By Katie Wehri / Posted on: June 16, 2017 9 minutes to read

CMS recently released clarification of the response options for HIS item A1400, Payor Information.  Many hospices have been asking how to complete this item with questions about the Self Pay option, in particular.  In addition to the information in the HIS Manual, CMS provides the following additional information specific to the…

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OASIS Transmission Denials Result in ADRs

By Melinda Gaboury / Posted on: June 9, 2017 5 minutes to read

As HPS has been warning for a few years, the time has come when agency payments are being impacted by the lack of OASIS transmission confirmation. Many home health agencies are continuing to trust that their home health software is protecting them from this edit due to the check marks or green lights on the claims regarding OASIS EXPORTING and recently we have discovered that one…

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Attending versus Referring Physician in Hospice

By Katie Wehri / Posted on: June 1, 2017 9 minutes to read

A physician refers a patient to hospice care – what role does this physician play in the care of the patient and in certifying the patient? It depends. Let’s look at the various hospice requirements that involve a physician.

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