Home Health/Home Infusion Agencies
Florida Blue defines home health care services as those services rendered to an individual in the home by health care professionals (e.g., nurses, therapists) or paraprofessionals (e.g., home health aides, physical therapy assistants) to achieve and sustain an optimum state of health and independence for that individual. For purposes of coverage, home health care is provided on a per visit basis, generally for no more than two hours at a time.
Revenue Codes Used
• Home Health Aide
o 0571
o 0572 – hourly
• If the agency does not bill on a calendar month basis, it prepares two bills. The first covers the period ending December 31 of the old year; the second, the period beginning January 1 of the New Year.
• All services must be itemized by date of service. Enter the appropriate revenue code and date for each service rendered.
• Physical therapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy services should be billed by the visit, not by the modality or hour, unless approved by Care Coordination.
• Reimbursement for visits provided by a health care professional of differing specialties is limited to one per day for each specialty, unless documented as medically necessary.
• Some plans, including BlueCard may require medical documentation for unlisted codes, such as 99600.
• Utilization of specific codes is strongly recommended to facilitate easier claims processing.
Home Health Billing Requirements for Non-Contracted Medicare Advantage
• Effective for home health episodes beginning on or after October 1, 2013, Original Medicare will no longer accept institutional claims submitted with Type of Bill 033X. After October 1, 2013 home health will need to bill with Type of Bill 032X.
• Bill type “322-329”
• Health Insurance Prospective Payment System (HIPPS) code
• Treatment Authorization Code
• Core-Based Statistical Area (CBSA) must be included with value amount field for a value code 61
Billing for Infusion Services for Providers NOT participating in the CareCentrix Network:
Classified drugs must be submitted with valid CPT/HCPCS codes, HCPCS quantity, NDC Code, and NDC Quantity.
• Do not bill more than seven consecutive days on any claim line.
• Bill only primary drugs and S per diem codes related to infusion when professional nursing services are provided.
• Do not bill codes that are considered inclusive in the S per diem code.
• Corrected claims; if billing for additional dates of service or additional items, not included on the original claim, a corrected claim is required.
• Effective for home health episodes beginning on or after October 1, 2013, Original Medicare will no longer accept institutional claims submitted with Type of Bill 033X. After October 1, 2013 home health will need to bill with Type of Bill 032X.
• Home health providers with several provider numbers should submit the provider number of the agency that provided the care. This will ensure claims are reimbursed correctly.
• Submit both revenue and CPT/HCPCS Codes. Claims submitted without both revenue and CPT/HCPCS codes or with invalid codes will be rejected at the claim or line level.
• Bill according to CPT/HCPCS definitions to determine appropriate coding, inclusive supply and item sizing. Claim lines must be split unevenly when units exceed 9999 to prevent duplicate denials.
• Do not bill more than 15 lines or 31-days of services on the same claim. If billing for services over a span of dates, bill once for that span (after span is complete) to include all services for the dates of service on one claim. Overlapping or repeating span dates causes duplicate denials.
• The home health agency should not submit a bill/claim for an inclusive period beginning in one calendar year and extending into the next calendar year.
• A separate line item should be submitted for each per diem for each date of service. To report units per diem, one unit should be billed for each line.
Some groups and other Blue Plans may have specific coding and/or billing requirements for home infusion. Call the appropriate Blue Plan with any questions prior to filing the claim.
Home Health Agency Billing Guidelines
Blue Cross recognizes the need to maintain consistency of billing requirements for both Blue Cross and Medicare wherever possible. Therefore, we require home health agencies to file claims using the UB- 04 claim form (see instructions in the Claims Submission section of this manual) in accordance with Medicare guidelines with the following exceptions:
1. The revenues codes accepted by Blue Cross and which may be entered in UB-04 field 42 are limited, and revenue code descriptions for field 43 have been modified. These modifications are necessary due to member contract/certificate variations.
Revenue codes 551 and 559 and their respective descriptions have been changed to identify services provided by a Registered Nurse (RN) or a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN). This change is necessary because reimbursement rates are different for RNs and LPNs.
Revenue code 261, IV Therapy Pump, requires a modifier in order for the correct type of service to be assigned (see page 76 and 77 for detailed information). The revenue codes with descriptions accepted by Blue Cross from participating home health agencies listed in this manual. The appropriate HCPCS or Procedure code must be included in field 44 of the UB-04 when billing revenue codes with double asterisks (**), shown under the column heading “Code Reqd.” This is necessary for proper pricing and payment of the service. (Please refer to your Blue Cross Home Health Agency Member Provider Agreement and Reimbursement Appendix for information on reimbursement).
2. Accumulative billing of services will be accepted by utilizing a “From” and “Through” date with the total units of service for a specific revenue code or HCPCS code. However, some member contracts/ certificates and/or groups require that the individual date of service be shown for each day on which services where provided. When this situation applies, you will be notified when you authorize services and also via the written confirmation of the authorization.
Authorization is required for all home health care. Blue Cross requires 48 hours advance notice of all home health care to be provided. The authorization will include the service and/or code to be provided and in some cases, the quantity/units of services authorized. The services that we will generally approve are included in this manual and include the range of HCPCS/Procedure codes that should be billed with the revenue code. To obtain authorization, please call Provider Services at 1-800-523-6435.
Home Health Agency Revenue Codes Accepted by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana Visit charge is defined as a consecutive period of time up to two hours during which home health care is rendered. Hourly charges exceeding two hours require additional authorization from Blue Cross.
Hourly charges for home health aides and private duty nursing (in shifts of at least eight continuous hours) must be billed using the revenue codes appropriate to the level of professional training.
