Every so often, Palmetto posts a list of the claims that will be of interest to them on their website. This is the list that was published on August 4.

Note the last letter of the HIPPS code. The letter ‘L’ indicates 16 – 17 therapy visits and the dreaded ‘K’ means that 20 or more therapy visits are scheduled. Only one of the edits is for therapy below 14 visits. In that edit, Palmetto GBA is looking for the lowest clinical and functional scores together with therapy.

Palmetto is asking why a patient who appears to be clinically stable and can walk, talk, bathe, transfer and dress themselves needs any therapy. It’s a good question. There could be a perfectly legitimate explanation but if it is not documented well, you are looking at a denial.

Pretty much all episodes with 20 or more therapy visits are being scrutinized. These are the expensive claims and people who are ‘gaming’ the system will often use high utilization as a method to do so. This does NOT mean that a patient should not receive 20 therapy visits if needed. For most agencies, these episodes will be few and far between.

16 and 17 visits are very profitable as well even if the dollar amount is not the same. The profit starts to drop off at 18 and 19 visits until 20 visits are made.

All clinical documentation should support the services billed but in an agency where staff is limited or compromised at time of billing, claims with these HIPPS codes might be prioritized for review prior to dropping claims.