CMS Proposed Template for Home Care F2F Services

LeadingAge New York has previously reported that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have had several Special Open Door Forums on the Face-to-Face (F2F) encounter clinical templates, covering both the paper and electronic formats. As a result of stakeholder feedback CMS has issued a notice for public comment for the template that would satisfy the physician documentation for the Medicare home health F2F requirement.

CMS believes the use of the progress note template may help the physician with documenting the F2F encounter. The use of this template is voluntary.  In the three page progress note template there is a combination of checkboxes and space for comments. The template is comprehensive in terms of covering all the necessary documentation points, but the trade-off is that this results in a relatively lengthy document.  Member input on the practical application of the template is most appreciated as we formulate our own comments.

LeadingAge NY and LeadingAge national have had numerous discussions on how to streamline this F2F requirement, including looking at streamlining the 485 documentation. We have supported the Visiting Nurse Association of America (VNAA) on their legislative relief bill, Home Health Documentation and Program Improvement Act of 2015, S.1650.

The Aug. 12 Federal Register states comments must be received by Oct. 13, 2015.

Contact: Cheryl Udell, cudell@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8871