On
March 26, 2014, the Office of Medicaid Policy and Planning (“OMPP”) published a
notice of proposed reimbursement methodology for telehealth monitoring services
for Home Health Agencies (“HHA”). In this notice, OMPP proposes to add
telehealth monitoring services as a covered service for HHA and to reimburse
HHA for such services. OMPP also proposes to eliminate the current
limitation for requiring the hub site, which is the location of the physician
or practitioner providing the consultation services, to be greater than 20
miles from the spoke site, which is the location of the patient when the
service is provided. This limitation is only being removed for telemedicine
services provided by Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), Rural Health
Clinics (RHCs), Community Mental Health Centers (CMHCs), and Critical Access
Hospitals (CAHs). These changes are made in accordance with Indiana Code
12-15-5-11, which was added by the General Assembly in 2013, PL 204-2013.
A proposed rule for the new reimbursable service will be published at a later
date, but the proposed effective date for the new reimbursable service is
October 1, 2014. The Notice of Proposed Reimbursement Methodology is available
here.
On
March 26, 2013, the Commission on Seclusion and Restraint in Schools published
various documents regarding new rules for the use of restraint and seclusion in
schools. These published documents include an: (1) Economic Impact
Statement; (2) Notice of Public Hearing, set for April 21, 2014 (Indianapolis),
April 23, 2014 (Evansville) and April 24, 2014 (Chesterton); and (3) Proposed
Rule. This Proposed Rule is published in accordance with Indiana Code
20-20-40, which was added by the 2013 General Assembly, PL
122-2013. The Proposed Rule provides rules regarding the use of
restraint and seclusion in public school corporations, charter schools, and accredited
nonpublic schools. Specifically, the rules apply to: (1) all public
school corporations, charter schools, or accredited nonpublic schools; (2) all
public school corporations, charter schools, or accredited nonpublic schools
students regardless of whether student has been identified as eligible for
special education services; and (3) all programs and services subject to the
supervision of the state educational agency, including those programs conducted
by or through the following: (A) public school corporations, (B) charter
schools, (C) special education planning districts,
(D)
state agencies, or (E) other public agencies. (proposed 513 IAC 1-2-1) The
Proposed Rule emphasizes the elimination or minimization of the use of
restraint and seclusion and provides: (i) guidelines regarding the use of
restraint and seclusion; (ii) guidelines for the prevention of the use of
potentially harmful restraints/seclusions; (iii) training requirements for the
use of restraints/seclusions; (iv) guidelines for adopting and distributing the
school’s seclusion/restraint policy; and (v) requirements for reporting of
incidents of restraint/seclusion. The full text of the Proposed
Rule regarding the use of restraints and seclusions in schools is available
here.
If
you have any questions, please feel free to contact Leah Mannweiler at lmannweiler@kdlegal.com
or Meghan McNab at mmcnab@kdlegal.com.