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Beneficiary notifications: Simplify the process at your SNF

PPS Alert for Long-Term Care, February 1, 2009

This is an excerpt from a member only article. To read the article in its entirety, please login or subscribe to PPS Alert for Long-Term Care.

Beneficiary notifications give Medicare beneficiaries important information about their benefits and protect SNFs from financial liability, but the regulations for the notification process can be confusing. SNFs must issue several kinds of notifications and many facilities have several staff members responsible for notifications.

“A lot of facilities don’t have a process for issuing notifications and assume a certain person is doing it,” says Theresa Lang, RN, BSN, RAC-C, WCC, vice president of clinical consulting at Specialized Medical Services, Inc., in Milwaukee.

Sometimes, when that staff member leaves the facility, beneficiary notification isn’t reassigned, and notices may not be issued properly, Lang says.

“It’s not until you wind up with a survey problem, demand bill, or a Quality Improvement Organization [QIO] request that facilities realize that the notices aren’t being issued correctly,” she says.

Avoid survey and financial liability problems by learning which notices your facility must issue and creating a system for issuing beneficiary notifications properly.

This is an excerpt from a member only article. To read the article in its entirety, please login or subscribe to PPS Alert for Long-Term Care.

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