MD Verification at Time of Referral to Home Health

MD verification at the time of referral is a very important step for home care agencies.  If not done in a timely manner, it can lead to unintended inefficiencies.  72% of patients being referred are from acute care facilities, homecare agencies must develop an efficient process that helps them verify physician at start of care or better yet, at time agency receives referral.  This process can help prevent the trickle down negative effects such as:

1. No physician to sign Plan of Care after care has been initiated
   • In over 21% of start of care (SOC) visits clinical staff finds problems with drug regiment.
     • Not having a physician to help with medication reconciliation could leave the frontline clinical scrambling to get urgent orders during SOC home visit  
2. High non-billable visit cost (not to mention revenue loss) on not being able to provide care for the full episode for patient in need.  
3. Negative experience for patient and community physician 
4. Frontline clinicians disengagement or frustration
5. High risk of readmission for patient leading to loss of faith in agency by referral source or in-patient case management.  

The CARES Act permanently authorizes PAs (physician assistants) and nurse practitioners (NPs) to order home healthcare services for Medicare patients.  This new legislation will definitely expedite the authorization for home care services subsequent plan of care.   

Here I have outlined a process that agencies can use when receiving referral from in-patient facility (Acute Care Hospital, Skilled Nursing Facilities.)