For nearly six years providers have been notifying patients of their HIPAA Privacy Practices and Polices. In the course of compliance consulting with several clients I was asked to review their HIPAA policies. Most smaller provider took the path of least resistance when implementing their Privacy policies and used standard “template” policies and forms, as [...]

Thank you for visting The Rehab Compliance Experts.  Our goal is to provide useful and up to date information to the rehab community with a focus on the regulatory environment with a particular focus on Medicare related issues.   We invite your comments to posts by clicking on the “Comments” link below each post.

For the first time Speech Language Pathologists may now apply to have independent supplier standing with Medicare.  This will put SLPs on a par with private practice physical and occupational therapists.  While there are many SLPs in private practice today, they have not been able to participate in the Medicare program as an independent pracitioner.   [...]

CMS posted the updated Provider Outreach Schedule to the CMS RAC website last Friday.    The Outreach Schedule includes the following by Region: Region A:  New York Region B:  Michigan, Minnesota Region C:  South Carolina, Florida, Georgia Region D:  Utah, Arizona, Nevada, California, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana The focus of the scheduled sessions is [...]

The National Association of Rehab Agencies’ spring meeting is in Washinton D.C. May 13-15.  This is dubbed as the legislative meeting, and the focus will be on the political, legislative and regulatory atmosphere for the coming year.  Further information can be found at http://www.naranet.org

Rehab Agencies (sometimes known as “ORFs”) and Comprehensive Outpatient Rehabilitation Facilities (CORFs) are still listed as a Tier 4 priority in Medicare’s survey and certification priorities.  New providers are finding that their initial application with their fiscal intermediary or Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) may have been approved, but their State Agency that is contracted to [...]