"Medicare Accreditation" for Home Health Care Agencies

21st Century Health Care Consultants are Medicare, Medicaid and Private Duty Accreditation specialists. We offer a turnkey Medicare Accreditation program. Regardless of the state you are in, our home health care consultants understand the process. Throughout the years we have assisted well over a thousand home health care agencies attain Medicare and private duty accreditation.

Let’s explore some of the Medicare Accreditation requirements for a home health care agency. Today, the great majority of home health care agencies obtained Medicare Certification by undergoing Medicare Accreditation with one of the three major Medicare Accrediting Bodies: the Community Health Accreditation Program The Joint Commission or Accreditation Commission for Health Care.

The steps in obtaining Medicare Accreditation are for a home health agency to submit a Medicare Application to its Fiscal Intermediary and to apply to an Accrediting Body to enroll in its Medicare Accreditation process.

It will take on average about three to five months for a Medicare Application to be accepted. During this time an agency will complete its patient enrollment, provide its Accrediting body with materials requested and prepare itself for the Medicare Accreditation Inspection. The Community Health Accreditation Program and The Accreditation Commission for Heath Care each require that extensive questionnaires be completed. One is referred to as a Self-Study and the online questionnaire is called a Performance Evaluation Review.

Prerequisites for a Medicare Accreditation survey include agency providing proof from their bank that they have the required capitalization amount in their account, the receipt of an acknowledgment from the home health care agency’s Fiscal Intermediary stating that its Medicare Application has been accepted, a successful test transmittal to OASIS and the admission of ten skilled patients.

The ten patients that are admitted need not be Medicare eligible, but if they are, they must be homebound. One of the ten patients must have more than one discipline. This could be skilled nursing, plus a therapy or home health aide services. Patients admitted may be discharged, but at least seven must be active when the Medicare Accreditation Survey occurs.

Accrediting Body

Medicare Accreditation Surveys will not occur until an agency notifies its Accrediting Body that it has met the prerequisites and is ready for the Medicare Accreditation Inspection.

All Medicare Accreditation Surveys will be unannounced and all will be of three day duration. The Accrediting Body surveyor will seek to determine that Agency staff members have an understanding of the policies and procedures. Each patient chart will be reviewed and five patients will be chosen for visits. The Accrediting Body surveyor will accompany the Agency’s RN on these visits to determine that proper nursing procedures are being followed. The agency office, its personnel files and it policies and procedures will be reviewed.

Please call us so we can answer any questions that you may have about Medicare accreditation for your agency.

Call us for a no obligation consultation (888) 850-6932
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