National Association for Home Care & Hospice



Session Title: Diversifying with Medicare Part BSession Description: Home health and hospice agencies continue to face regulatory and financial challenges which are driving up costs while also creating downward revenue pressure. ?Agencies are looking for new revenue streams to negate these challenges while also meeting the needs of their customers. ?Some Medicare Part B services are eligible for billing by home health and hospice agencies but many times agencies are not aware of these services, or are providing them but are unsure of the reimbursement rules. This session will provide an overview of the key Part B services that are available to agencies and how to obtain payment for them. Learning ObjectivesDefine what services are available to home health/hospice agencies for Medicare Part B Billing;Identify challenges with providing Part B services; Describe the rules and requirements for Part B eligibility/billing; andDetermine if providing Part B services is right for your agency.Session Title: How Clinical and Financial Team Work Together to Break Out of Their Silos to Achieve SuccessSession Description: As home health agencies work to survive in the PDGM and a growing managed care environment, agencies must work in every way possible to identify all of the ways to deliver care that produce the best outcomes in the most financially efficient way possible. This session looks at how clinical and financial staff can work together to share information and ideas about how to best serve patients in new ways. The session examines ways that agencies can examine to reduce direct and indirect costs. Agencies need to look at everything from using therapy assistants and aides to assist in providing care to understanding utilization patterns that produce optimal outcomes. When finance and clinical share data and ideas, agencies benefit. Learning Objectives:Identify opportunities and concrete ways clinical and financial teams can structure productive discussion Review ideas that agencies have identified, such as the use of therapy assistants and aides, to provide care that is cost effective and produces great outcomes for patientsReview reports and tools that help financial and clinical teams to talk to each otherSession Title: It’s a Brave New World – Financial Management in the PDGM World – Vision 2020 (this is direct & indirect costs on the list)Session Description: Home Health Agencies are embarking on a new frontier in 2020. With the implementation of the PDGM payment model, agencies will be forced to evaluate all aspects of their financial business model. Agencies will be quick to eliminate expenses but there must be a solid strategy as to which expenses to either eliminate or re-align. This session will present solid financial management strategies for agencies to be successful in the new era to identify indirect and direct cost savings. Is your vision 2020?Learning Objectives: Identify methods for how home health agencies need to evaluate financial management strategiesDiscuss areas where HHA’s may realize indirect and direct cost savingsIdentify the impact of visit utilization on cost savings versus cost eliminationsExplore options and new technologies for delivering care and reducing expenses Session Title: Managing Medicare Aggregate Cap - Lengths of stay and surrounding issues Session Description: Better than one in eight Medicare certified hospices currently exceed the CAP and must make repayment to the Medicare program.? MedPAC anticipates the number of over-CAP hospices to increase without any change in the CAP computation.?There is active consideration of additional changes to the CAP, including wage adjusting the existing single national CAP value, and reducing it by 20%.?Also being considered is the potential for adjusting the CAP based on the geographical location of the hospice and its patients.? MedPAC estimates a combination of these changes would cause over 26% of hospices to exceed the CAP. This session is intended to provide attendees with a general understanding of the CAP, CAP calculations, and liability assessments.? Additionally, attendees will be provided with tools useful in the determination of CAP liabilities as well as tools for monitoring utilization characteristics that drive CAP liabilities.? Attendees will also gain an understanding of the CAP calculation and follow-up procedures employed by the MACs as well as unique CAP-related activities, i.e. terminating providers, CHOW CAP calculations, and others.Learning objectives:??Outline the rationale behind closer scrutiny of aggregate CAP liability and annual self-reporting?Explain the need to monitor CAP status throughout the year; describe how to effectively monitor and compute the hospice's aggregate?CAP statusSecure the information necessary to prepare the annual CAP self-determination and to make this submissionProject the final CAP liability and make request for ERSAscertain the degree to which pending CAP policy changes may impact your organization?Session Title: Building Strategic Partnerships for Hospice and Palliative Care Payment ModelsSession Description: As the landscape evolves within the palliative care and hospice environment, how do organizations adapt and build innovative models to survive? Join us to explore effective techniques that manage the hospice revenue cycle at all levels of care, while bridging the gap between palliative care and hospice services, all of which will optimize opportunities to evolve your organization’s revenue base. Discussions will delve into how your organization can, and will need to, differentiate themselves through creating strategic payer partnerships that further illustrate the value of the palliative care and hospice care models to their bottom line.Learning Objectives:Identify opportunities to enhance services for all hospice levels of care and how to bridge gap between programsDescribe strategies for differentiation to payers through financial analysis and value based modelsAssess key performance indicators relevant to illustrating value to hospice and palliative care programsProvide guidance on Primary Care First initiative and how it could benefit organizationHow to operationalize and create synergy between hospice and palliative care clinicians with Finance expertsSession Title: Succession Planning and Mentorship - Preparing for the Next Chapter Session Description:The sustainability of an organization depends on the strength of its leadership and a culture that encourages employees to feel like they are key to the organization’s success. In order to accomplish this, a succession plan must be in place. And who better to take the lead than those who understand your organization’s vision and are already invested in its success. This session will focus on formalizing a plan to mentor and develop employees through a holistic approach to prepare them for the organization’s next chapter. Topics will include recruiting best practices, personalized employee growth plans, mentorship, and retention strategies. Learning Objectives: What succession planning is, and what it isn’tHow recruiting and retention affects an organization’s long-term ustainabilityHow to utilize existing bench strength and mentor the next generation of leadersHow to develop and execute a plan for successSession Title: 28. Hospice Revenue Cycle ManagementSession Description:Effective management of the hospice revenue cycle is an evolving challenge, as cash flow optimization efforts must always be balanced against potential compliance threats. Recent Office of Inspector General reports suggest the possibility of increased scrutiny of the hospice benefit, which often comes in the form of increased program integrity activity impacting the revenue cycle. Individual states continue to adopt Medicaid managed care, significantly complicating the hospice revenue cycle, and the hospice benefit continues to draw interest from both Medicare and Medicaid program integrity contractors. Medicare Advantage coverage for hospice continues to be possible, furthering the importance of hospices taking action to assess for potential revenue cycle optimization opportunities, as the consequences to cash flow can be significant if processes are not effectively managed. Additionally, the Medicare targeted probe and educate (TPE) process continues to focus on hospice, significantly increasing the consequences of poor revenue cycle or related documentation management practices. Strategies for optimizing payer and process management and mitigating compliance risks by leveraging the use of technology will be examined, as will tactics for conducting proactive compliance audits. Industry benchmarks for revenue cycle key performance metrics will also be examined.Learning Objectives:Assess the latest information related to Medicare hospice TPE initiatives; Identify strategies for optimizing cash flow and minimizing compliance risks through effective documentation and revenue cycle process management; and Apply benchmarks to revenue cycle key performance metrics.Session Title: 32. Compliance – claims audits – RCD, UPIC, TPE, payment suspension - HHSession Description:While the home health Medicare improper payment rate computed annually by the Comprehensive Error Rate Testing (CERT) contractor has declined over recent years, home health agencies continue to be at risk of compliance initiatives from multiple program integrity contractors focused on the industry. This scrutiny often takes the form of pre- or post-pay audits by Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs), such as Targeted Probe and Educate (TPE) and Review Choice Demonstration (RCD), or investigations by Unified Program Integrity Contractors (UPICs) that can result in massive penalties computed on extrapolated error rates, suspended payments, or other extreme measures.This session will examine the most common threats to home health agencies presented by program integrity contractors and offer insights into typical contractor behaviors and practices based on first-hand experiences. This session will also focus on strategies for successfully navigating MAC claims audits resulting from TPE and RCD and managing the complex details of an active UPIC investigation. Strategies for conducting a proactive compliance risk assessment that gauges the effectiveness of documentation and revenue cycle pocedures will also be shared.Learning Objectives:Outline key details from current results TPE & RCD initiatives and recent UPIC actionsOffer strategies for successfully managing claims audits by contractorsDescribe effective and efficient compliance risk assessment and mitigation proceduresSession Title:It’s a New Day for Hospice Inpatient FacilitiesSession Description:For years, hospice inpatient units and facilities have struggled with high costs and low reimbursement. CMS’s realignment of hospice level of care reimbursement rates presents new opportunities. How has the financial picture for hospice inpatient settings changed? Hear from hospice experts who will share benchmarks, operational efficiencies, and changes they have made since the FY 2020 rates took effect. Learning Objectives:Share real life examples of FY2020 vs FY2019 financial performance of hospice inpatient units, with changes to respite and GIP rates Describe considerations for increasing the proportion of respite patients in your hospice inpatient unitEvaluate demand for inpatient beds in your market after the changes to respite and GIP rates, to determine census goals. Share how hospices have historically addressed financial performance issues for their inpatient units:Key performance indicators to drive financial performanceStaffing challenges and solutionsEfficiency of the physical unit space or layoutShare industry benchmarks to provide opportunities for improved performanceSession Title: Protecting Your Agency from Cyberthreats, Ransomware, and other IT FailuresSession Description: The new frontier of always-connected employees and utilizing electronic medical records has led to better outcomes and more convenience for agencies. It also has opened an additional avenue for agency risk with the potential for ransomware, failed backups, and HIPPA breaches. In order to be protected, agencies must be ahead of the curve with a strong compliance plan, active threat monitoring, and an emergency plan that incorporates cybersecurity and system failure contingencies. This session will help agencies identify potential gaps and give you concrete actions to protect your agency from threats going forward.Learning Objectives:Prioritize tasks that need to be done to protect your organization from cybersecurity threats.Identify areas where a compliance plan is needed and how to mitigate risks in those areas.Evaluate where your agency is in its emergency planning process and steps you can take to get in full compliance.Session Title: Medicare Advantage: Structuring Your Agency to SucceedSession Description: Currently 33% of Medicare beneficiaries receiving Home Health are on Medicare Advantage plans. CMS’s objective is to move 47% to Medicare Advantage by 2025 and 70% by 2040. To best position your agency for the future of Medicare, you need to act now to build relationships with plans, identify ways you can get better reimbursement for the services you already do, and demonstrate your value to Medicare Advantage plans. This session will help you to know what Medicare Advantage plans are looking for, how you can set your agency up for future success structurally with Medicare Advantage payers, and how to build relationships with your payers that will allow you both to win.Learning Objectives:Identify how to differentiate your agency and put your best foot forward when contracting and maintaining a relationship with Medicare Advantage payers.Recognize how to know when to end contract relationships and how to do your part to prevent contract relationships from needing to be ended.Evaluate how to differentiate your agency while sharing risk with MA payers. Session Title: Leadership Panel of different Generations - Young Professionals - Cultural Changes - generational changes how to adapt - - Mentorship - - Mentor/MenteeSession Description:Today’s workforce is unique and singular.? Never before has there been a workforce and workplace that is so diverse.? Generational diversity presents the homecare and hospice industry with tension, challenge, opportunity and promise.? There is a growing realization that the gulf of misunderstanding and resentment between the older, not so old, and younger employees in the workplace is growing and problematic.? A leadership panel of homecare and hospice experts will discuss how they treat generation mixing as an asset. They will provide provocative insights and practical solutions for understanding differences, resolving conflicts, and managing effectively in today’s age-diverse workplace.Learning objectives:Provide a definitive guide to understanding what makes other generations tick.Provide strategies to create a flexible management style.Outline strategies to nourish retention.Offer practical guidelines for building a harmonious workforce where team members rally together for the organization, not against each other.Session Title: “Merger & Acquisitions update…and the impact of regulatory changes on the M&A environment”Session Description:Recent market conditions have yielded eye-popping valuations and activity. Financial and Strategic Buyers have been extremely active, but why? More important, will the trend continue in this new decade…and for how long? Certainly, MedPAC has been outspokenly critical against our industry and CMS has issued numerous unfavorable rate and regulatory changes. How will those actions impact home health and hospice transaction activity going forward?Learning Objectives: Objective 1: Understand the recent M&A environment and its forcesObjective 2: Recognize the “counter-cycles” of home health and hospice valuationObjective 3: Identify the most likely regulatory changes to impact the M&A marketplace for the next 12 – 36 months.Session Title: Compensation ModelsSession Description:Recruiting and retaining nursing and rehab personnel is becoming an ever increasing challenge as home health services continue to grow. The design of an agency’s compensation model will have a significant impact on the ability to keep qualified personnel. In addition, creating a culture of open dialogue regarding work/life balance, stress reduction and performance will create strong employee relationships. This session will provide you key strategies to grow your agency’s staffing levels and increase employee engagement.Learning Objectives:Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of the various home health compensation models.Investigate other items that impact employee satisfaction, including benefit packages and flexible work schedules.Create a solid employee relationship through mentorship, real time performance review and strategies to obtain a healthy work / life balance.Session Title: Tracking the New PDGM Benchmarks and TrendsSession Description: With PDGM, agencies need to consider new metrics that will be different than with PPS. With six months under PDGM, what are the drivers of this payment model? How should they be tracked and monitored? New KPIs around billing, operations and finance are essential to understand the trends and how best practices can be measured and reported on.Learning Objectives:Describe the importance of tracking PDGM benchmarks and KPIs for an organizationIdentify the new benchmarks and KPIs that agencies are using to track performanceShare the trends available across the first 6 months of data under PDGMSession Title: Using Data Analytics to drive your operations and improve your performanceSession Description: Data and how you use it can have important implications to your business. Agencies need to harness the capabilities of available data sources to identify opportunities for improvement and help differentiate yourself to value-based payers and referrers. Analytics supercharges your data to help you make better operating decisions.Learning Objectives:Identify the sources of data and how you may use the data to run your businessesLearn how to apply the four types of analytics: descriptive, diagnostic, predictive and prescriptive to your operationsShare how data analytics can identify the opportunities for improvementSession Title: Change Management Through Project Management?Session Description: Even with strong, experienced teams, many home care and hospice organizations need dedicated support keep major initiatives on time and on budget in the midst of busy daily operations. The key is? adding a catalyst in the form of certified project managers to facilitate clinical, financial and administrative alignment to make changes that will create a higher level of organizational efficiency. Learn how complex program and project management resources can help home care and hospice agencies define goals and execute strategies without missing a beat. Discussion will include work breakdown structure, team motivation and communication, project team composition and governance to ensure business impact and ROI.?NO OBJECTIVES SENT INSession Title: 101. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly 2020 (or Medicare Advantage, the movie) Session Description: A third of Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans, with the percentage to increase to nearly half (47%) by 2025 and nearly three quarters (70%) by 2040. Working with Medicare Advantage could either solidify your agency or bankrupt it. This session will discuss how to most effectively partner with Medicare Advantage payers and when to walk away. Learning Objectives:Review the modes of Medicare Advantage growth based on current volumes for your state (extrapolated for future periods).Identify key performance metrics and trends and how to position your agency for incentive based or at risk contracting.Identify partnerships and other ways to establish relationships that will ensure ongoing/increased volumes of Medicare Advantage referrals.List key elements of Medicare Advantage contracting, including calculations that will guide the decision whether to enter into or terminate a Medicare Advantage agreement. Session Title: Hospice Billing - How to Master Billing that is not your routine levels of careSession Description: Hospice billing is much more complex that just billing levels of care to Medicare. Many states require each hospice agency to bill room and board to the state Medicaid plan or Medicaid Managed Care Organization as well as reimburse the nursing home. This involves a billing process but also an accounts payable process. This requires your staff needs to understand skilled nursing billing. The hospice revenue cycle team also needs to work directly with hospitals to obtain the necessary information to reconcile the inpatient levels of care to be billed and work with the skilled nursing facility to obtain information to bill respite. It is critical for your team to understand how these process work. This session will outline the key areas to ensure success in booking the correct revenue and include tips on how to collect it.ObjectivesReview the details needed to book revenue to bill your non-routine levels of careReview billing guidelines and tips for effective room and board and inpatient care billing Discuss how to ensure you are matching what you pay to facilities versus what you billReview how hospitals and skilled nursing facilities are paid and the rates to leverage contract negotiations Annual review of inpatient and respite contractsSession Title: How to find the best fit Merger Partner and complete a successful IntegrationSession Description: Home Health and Hospice providers are turning to mergers, acquisitions and strategic alliance partners to increase market share and supplement organic growth, which is being challenged by changing regulations and industry consolidation. This session will explore the current merger environment, as well as assist providers how to navigate a merger from finding a merger partner though successful integration.Learning Objectives:How to find and evaluate a merger partnerIdentify the keys to a successful mergerThe do’s and don’ts planning and executing the integrationSession Title: How to present the value of your agency to a potential partnerSession Description: Home Health and Hospice providers are continually evaluating whether to merger, sell or “stay the course” as the post-acute landscape continues to change. Value of an agency is not merely defined as “how much is my company worth.” There are multiple tangible and intangible assets which need to be reviewed. This session will explore how both buyers and sellers view value, as well as provide guidance on how to demonstrate the value to a potential partner.Learning Objectives:Discuss the metrics and key indicators used to demonstrate valueHow to demonstrate quality and return on investment to a potential partnerEvaluate and analyze synergies with a potential partnerSession Title: Hospice Benchmarks/data analytics/profitability by level of care - and predictive analytics - - Using Cost Report as Management ToolSession Description: With potential major changes in Hospice coming it is important to truly understand the key revenue and cost drivers of the business.? This session will review the key revenue and cost drivers that impact the overall profitability of the agency and how to use these analytics and benchmarks to measure success.? This presentation will also cover how to use analytics and benchmarks for predictive modeling, budgeting and other future analysis that may needed based on proposed Hospice changes.? Lastly this presentation will cover how to share these key drivers with other non-finance departments such as clinical operations and sales to achieve optimal financial performance.NO OBJECTIVES SENT INSession Title: Early Success Stories Under PDGMSession Description: We are now operating in a PDGM world that represents the biggest change to the home health industry in two decades. This session will explore early success stories for agencies adapting to the new model. The presenters will highlight operational and organizational challenges and changes their agency has made, highlighting revenue cycle and patient care management under PDGM. The session will also discuss lessons learned and surprises encountered since January and what new reporting metrics and tools have been implemented to assist in managing operations. Learning Objectives:Explain how patient care management has changed, specifically how 30-day periods and LUPAs are managed Understand how revenue cycle operations have been impacted, specifically intake, coding, orders tracking and billingDiscover challenges that have been most unexpected under PDGMDetermine what reporting and tools have changed in the new modelSession Title: Hospice Compliance Risks: Third Party Clinical & Billing Audits Session Description: In the current environment of the targeted and third-party reviews there is a constant concern of reviews that could result in recoupment of payments already made to hospices. This session will narrow the focus of the education to the top edits and denial reasons under the different contractor reviews and go into depth on each one. This session will highlight the documentation requirements to avoid the denials and the regulations that support. If your hospice is currently in a review or is just looking to improve the quality review standards, this session is a must attend.Learning Objectives:Outline the top denials from Targeted Probe & EducateReview the most recent OIG Report and findings from recent OIG audits.Detail the documentation requirements to avoid the top denials.Review a checklist of indicators that could be incorporated into a hospice compliance assessment plan.Session Title: PDGM: Revenue Cycle ManagementSession Description: PDGM has brought even more daunting factors to the home health revenue cycle. While cash flow efforts must be successful, agencies must also guard against potential compliance threats. With Medicare Advantages Plans at an all-time high and new payers continuing to flock to the industry, the revenue cycle becomes more complex. If processes are not effectively managed the consequences to cash flow can be dire. Targeted Probe and Educate (TPE), as well as the Review Choice Demonstration (RCD), puts agencies at increased risk when they have poor revenue cycle or documentation management practices. This session will take a deep look into best practices for Home Health Revenue Cycle teams.Learning Objectives:Detail the direct impact of PDGM on the Home Health Revenue CycleDefine best practices for optimizing cash flow and limiting compliance risks through effective documentation and revenue cycle management; List recent edits and results from TPE & RCD pilots Session Title: Women in Leadership: Diversity in the WorkplaceSession Description: Currently women make up the majority of the population (51%), account for 49% of the college educated workforce, and hold 52% of all professional jobs. And yet, “American women lag substantially behind men when it comes to their representation in leadership positions” (Warner and Corley, 2017). This session will be a panel discussion covering employee and employer challenges for women in the 21st century with emphasis on the home care and hospice management field. Women are adapting to the challenges by embracing continual learning, displaying confidence in the workplace, and returning to academic studies later in life to advance their careers. The panel members will include women in a variety of roles in healthcare.Learning Objectives:Assess strategic steps women can take to advance their career in financial leadership Identify challenges that women in key leadership roles faceDescribe methods of achieving satisfaction with work life balanceSession Title: Applying Lean Principles in Home Care & HospiceSession Description: As home care and hospice providers continue to look for ways to maintain margins while delivering quality services, agencies should consider “lean” strategies to improve on their results. An organization using lean principles understands customer value and focuses its key processes to continuously increase it. The ultimate goal under lean principles is to provide perfect value to the customer through a perfect value creation process that has zero waste. This session will provide strategies for applying lean principles in a home care and hospice organization.Learning Objectives:Define the principles under the lean conceptOutline the process of using lean principles to improve your quality and improve marginsIdentify strategies for applying lean principles in home care and hospice ................
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