As a condition for payment, the Affordable Care Act mandates that prior to certifying a patient’s eligibility for the home health benefit, the certifying physician must document that he or she, or an allowed non-physician practitioner (NPP) has had a face-to-face encounter with the patient.

The Home Health Compare Quality of Patient Care Star Rating measure has been added to the 29 existing measures currently available in Home Health Quality Metrics, an interactive web-based benchmarking tool available free to LeadingAge home health members.