Survival in an industry that has recently mandated the use of Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) for Home Care

What does the Home Care EVV mandate mean? As a home care agency that currently bills or plans to bill Medicaid for personal care or home health services, you might ask yourself, what does that mean? That seems to be a common question as providers are learning that a new law has been put in place under the 21st Century Cures Act that requires all Medicaid providers to use EVV for Personal and Home Health Care services.

So, what is EVV? It’s a way to track and monitor visits and services in a patient’s home, in real-time.

How does EVV work in a home care agency?  Through the use of automated technologies, such as landline telephones, GPS enabled devices, or fixed verification devices, caregivers are easily able to clock in and out of their visits without having to fill out paper timesheets.

Why do you have to use EVV? This mandate has been put in place to help the home care industry become more efficient and transparent by integrating payers and providers. As you may know, managing patients with multiple payers continues to be a challenge for home care agencies. So think of this new mandate as a way to help enhance an agency’s operations and ultimately save costs.

How can my agency benefit from EVV? Without the use of an electronic system to help confirm, post, and bill immediately for services, you may see a higher denial rate in payments. An electronic system helps to eliminate the need to track down timesheets, verify the actual visit time to the scheduled time, and ultimately reduces the chance of errors on billing and payroll processing.

What can I do to prepare my agency? Embrace the change, think of this as great way to reorganize and revamp your operational processes. Do some research on EVV, learn how other agencies and other states are using it, be proactive and don’t wait until the last minute.

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