CMS Covers Changes to Home Health Care Referrals

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has published two articles for physicians referring patients to Medicare home health care or ordering home health services. “Overview of the Patient-Driven Groupings Model” provides an overview of the new case-mix adjustment methodology (Patient-Driven Groupings Model or PDGM) and the change in the home health unit of payment from 60 days to 30 days, effective on January 1, 2020. “Payments and Payment Adjustments under the Patient-Driven Groupings Model” provides an overview of the PDGM, including the case-mix variables that represent the clinical characteristics that affect resource use.