by Megan Bernier, MSPT, RACT-CT, COS-C
The Role of OASIS Answers in CMS Home Health Help Desks
As a contractor for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), OASIS Answers supports the CMS home health help desk infrastructure that helps providers get answers to their most challenging questions.
OASIS Answers is contracted to provide support to the Home Health Quality help desk and to the expanded Home Health Value-Based Purchasing (HHVBP) Model help desk. Our help desk work interacts with many other CMS helpdesks as well, and works collaboratively with CMS to provide accurate information to home health agencies, partners, and stakeholders.
Overview of CMS Home Health Help Desks
CMS has multiple help desks (HD) available to allow home health providers to ask questions, trouble shoot problems and request guidance and support for various home health topics.
Some of the HDs that are available to home health providers include, but are not limited to:
- Home Health Quality HD – homehealthqualityquestions@cms.hhs.gov
Providing support for the various Home Health Quality Reporting program initiatives such as OASIS coding & OASIS documentation, Quality reporting requirements and deadlines, Measure calculations, information regarding risk adjustment and the Quality of Patient Care Star Rating - Expanded HHVBP Model HD – HHVBPquestions@cms.hhs.gov
Providing support on the expanded HHVBP Model implementation, model calculations, model reports, and available HHVBP resources - Home Health Policy HD – homehealthpolicy@cms.hhs.gov
Providing support for Medicare payment policies such as eligibility, coverage requirements and the Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) - Home Health Survey Mailbox – hhasurveyprotocols@cms.hhs.gov
Providing support regarding compliance with the Home Health Conditions of Participation including regulations and interpretive guidance, survey and certification, and contact information for state OASIS Education Coordinators (OECs) and state OASIS Automation Coordinators (OACs)
The CMS Guide to Home Health Help Desks
For more information on all the various home health HDs that are available, CMS has developed a guide to the home health help desks, available on the Home Health Quality Reporting Program Help Desks | CMS webpage.
The next time you find yourself stumped on a home health question, consider reaching out to the appropriate CMS HD for support.
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