By Beth Foster, RN, BA, CPHQ, CEHCH

ODM Has Not Announced An Emergency Rule That Permits HHAs To Accept Plans of Care and Certifying/Recertifying Patient Eligibility by NPs, CNSs, and PAs
On April 26th I finally received a response to my April 13th e-mail to the Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM), in which I asked two questions:

At this time is Medicaid (traditional and managed care) allowing home health agencies to implement the use of NPs, CNSs, and PAs as primary care providers?
If not, when will Medicaid allow home health agencies to implement the use of NPs, CNSs, and PAs as primary care providers?

ODM responded, “My apologies for the delay in replying Beth. We are addressing this in the emergency rule package that is being prepared. Please let me know if you have additional questions or if I can be of further assistance.”

Since April 26th OCHCH has contacted ODM several times to find out the status of the emergency rule. We have not received an answer from our May 15th e-mail, so I sent another e-mail TODAY!

At this time, the Primary Care Practitioners (PCP = NP, CNS, PA) can only order, certify/recertify home health services, and establish and manage the Plan of Care for Medicare beneficiaries and other payer sources that permit the NPPs to order HH services.

OCHCH will share the ODM emergency rule as soon as we receive it!