According to the National Association for Home Care and Hospice (NAHCH), the home health care industry serves an estimated 12 million patients. NAHCH also reports these 12 million individuals receive care from more than 33,000 providers each year in the U.S. These figures are expected to grow rapidly over the next 20 years, as about 3 million baby boomers hit retirement age.
Medicare is the single largest payer of home health services. As home health care becomes increasingly popular for the aging and disabled, regulators are working to prevent fraud and abuse. When the Medicare Fraud Strike Force was established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2007, officials quickly realized that there was an immediate fraud and abuse challenge that needed to be addressed. For instance, they found that in one area alone, Miami, Florida, nearly one-third of Medicare claims were for services that never even took place. In 2010, federal official charged 94 people with over $250 million in phony claims.
Fast forward several years and the efforts to combat healthcare fraud is in full swing. Nationwide, states are adapting new ways of reducing the cost of fraud on burdened taxpayers. Illinois was one of the first states to start implementing a new Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) system for its Home Services Program (HSP) in January 2014. The system helps make time keeping for individual providers, homemakers and home health care agencies faster, easier, and more accurate. Now Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas are mandating the use of specific equipment to document visits, as well. Several more states are considering regulation to make Electronic Visit Verification Mandatory.
Home health agencies bear the burden of proof for the care they provide. With so many patients receiving care, agency owners also need to verify that these patients are being cared for adequately. Electronic Visit Verification was designed to do just this: utilize available technology to record the date, time and location of home care visits with smart phones or tablets. Simply put, Electronic Visit Verification provides proof of care at the point of care. It’s a win-win for all parties. Patients get the care they need, providers have documented proof of the care they provide and regulators are able to prevent and combat fraud and abuse. EVV is an important solution all home health agencies should utilize. It can significantly improve accountability that services are being delivered to care recipients
The Axxess Mobile App Supports EVV
Axxess, the leading provider of integrated software for home health agencies to efficiently run their businesses offers EVV through its mobile app – Axxess AgencyCore. Using advanced encryption, GPS, cellular and Wi-Fi technology, Axxess’ Electronic Visit Verification records the date, time and location of home care visits using phones or tablets on both the Apple iOS or Google Android platforms and is available to all Axxess customers.
