OZ Kismet can assist in all areas of your business

Our experienced team can help develop strategies in effectively managing your business from the financial end to human resources and practice management.

We can assist in educating your team for optimal performance; from inservices to one-on-one training, our consultants can educate and train your staff members.  Our training spans all areas of the healthcare industry:  billing, accounting, cost reporting, HIS submission, OASIS reporting and data management.

If you need assistance in practice management – we are able to strategize with you and develop effective procedures to increase your facility’s client base, streamline your processes thereby effectively enhancing your net profit.

What’s home health care?

 Home health care is a wide range of health care services that can be given in a patients home environment for an illness or injury.  Home health care is less expensive, more convenient, and just as effective as care given in an acute care setting or skilled nursing facility.  It has been proven that patients recovering in their own home environment tend to recover quicker with less trips to the emergency room, if any.

  Examples of skilled home health services include:

• Wound care for pressure sores or a surgical wound
• Patient and caregiver education regarding disease processes, medications, etc.
• Intravenous or nutrition therapy
• Injections
• Monitoring serious illness and unstable health status

In general, the goal of home health care is to treat an illness or injury. Where possible, home health care helps the patient:

• Recover quicker
• Regain their independence to become as self sufficient as possible

 Home health care may also help the patient:

• Maintain their current condition or level of function
• Slow declining health due to disease processes

 In many cases, Medicare benefits pay for Home Health Services, and it is the responsibility of the Agency to verify these benefits prior to the start of care.
 If your patient has Medicare Supplement Insurance (Medigap) policy or other health insurance coverage, it is the agency’s responsibility to verify such benefits.
 Home Health services are also a covered benefit within most health insurance policies, both PPO and HMO.  Private pay is also accepted.
 The patient’s physician is responsible for writing a prescription for the Agency to render care to their patient.

 Who’s eligible?

All people with Part A and/or Part B who meet all of these conditions are covered:

• The patient must be under the care of a doctor, and you must be receiving services under a plan of care created and reviewed regularly by a doctor.
• The must have a skilled need, and a doctor must certify that need along with one or more of the following:
  • Intermittent skilled nursing care (visits) (other than drawing blood)
• Physical therapy, speech-language pathology, or occupational therapy services. These services are covered only when the services are specific, safe and an effective treatment for the patients condition. The amount, frequency and time period of the services needs to be reasonable; only qualified therapists can render these services safely and effectively.  To be eligible for home health, the patients condition must:  1) be expected to improve in a reasonable and generally predictable period of time, or 2) a skilled therapist is needed to safely and effectively render a maintenance program for the patients condition, or 3) a skilled therapist is needed to safely and effectively maintain therapy for the patients condition. 
• The must be homebound, and a doctor must certify that the patient is homebound.

 If your patient needs more than intermittent visits, then the patient may qualify for shift care, or respite care.  This is skilled care rendered over increments of hours and is not covered by Medicare.  These types of services are covered by private insurance.  

 The patient may leave home for medical treatment or short, infrequent absences for non-medical reasons, such as:  attending religious services.  A Medicare patient can receive home health care if they attend adult day health care.

 Home Health Care can also be rendered to those individuals 18 and under as well; home health services in this case are usually covered by private insurance or cash pay.  The agency is responsible for coordinating with the Insurance company for authorization and payment.

Note:

Home health services may also include medical supplies for use at home, durable medical equipment or injectable drugs.