What is the CAHPS survey?
The CAHPS survey is intended to measure the experience of patients who had died while receiving hospice care and the experience of their primary caregivers. It surveys informal caregivers – usually family members – of the persons who died under hospice care. The...
What is a hospice PEPPER report?
Program for Evaluating Payment Patterns Electronic Reports (PEPPER) is a data analysis report that has been available for hospices since 2012. This report contains claims data statistics based upon UB-04 claims data submissions for a single hospice agency. The...
Understanding the PEPPER Report
The PEPPER report target areas focus on statistics that will identify potential for improper Medicare billing. Comparison to national, jurisdictional, and state percentiles can highlight a hospice agency’s potential need for change to its practices to guard against...
What is Hospice Visits in the Last Days of Life (HVLDL)?
HVLDL is an HQRP claims-based measure of the proportion of patients who have received in-person visits from a registered nurse (RN) or a medical social worker (MSW) on at least two of the final three days of life. This metric replaces the HIS-based measure Hospice...
What is Hospice Care Index (HCI)?
HCI is a single comprehensive metric reflecting ten indicators of care delivered during a hospice stay -- from admission to discharge. This metric, which is included in the patient Care Compare portal, is intended to provide patients, families, and caregivers...
Can you deduct pay from a salaried exempt employee?
What is an exempt employee? Exempt workers are paid on a salaried basis. Salaried employees receive a prespecified amount of compensation each pay period. Their salary may not be reduced because of changes in the amount of work performed or because of changes in the...
Wonder about the difference between exempt and non-exempt employees?
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), enacted in 1938, has four major provisions: regulations for minimum wage, overtime pay, record keeping and child labor law. It also introduced standards for exempt and non-exempt employees. As it relates to the FLSA, exempt...
How to Handle Unclaimed Wages
How should an employer handle unclaimed wages? An employer may find that an employee fails to cash a paycheck. Most often, this occurs with the final pay check. These “unclaimed wages” may not be treated as “found money.” When an employee fails to pick up...
Is a worker an employee or an independent contractor?
When should a worker be classified as an employee versus as an independent contractor? What is the difference between these two types of workers? Why is it important for a hospice agency to properly classify the workers who are providing services? Why is it important...
Tips for avoiding hospice election form denials
What is a hospice election statement? A hospice election statement is a condition of payment under Medicare. For a patient to be eligible to receive hospice services under the Medicare benefit, the patient or the patient's authorized representative must elect hospice...