Micro Management of Minutes
I can't believe it, but someone has figured out how to analyze therapy minutes to the point that it tells you when too much therapy has been delivered!
The main idea this program was designed for was to compare the medical reimbursement rate VS the therapy rate for Medicare Part A participants, and of course allow the facility to determine a RUG category for the highest reimbursement rate. If the medical rate is higher than a possible therapy rate, then it seems like that person would get less therapy. And although there are the few who need more medical attention than therapy, does this cheat those who need both the medical and therapy intervention?
The big thing that stood out to me in this presentation though, was the set of figures that indicated where therapy minutes had exceeded a category. In one sample, a patient in a Very High RUG group and scheduled to receive 500 minutes of therapy actually received 580 minutes during their assessment period. This was indicated on the report to exceed the 10% overage exemption. In other words, you just gave away 30 minutes of treatment time over the allowed 10%. The total overage was there too, indicating that 80 minutes of therapy was "given away".
Another sample was also presented, and this one showed that the medical rate would exceed the therapy rate unless therapy could deliver 720 minutes to place this person in the Ultra High group. The funny part was that even with a UH category, the therapy rate was not much more than the medical rate. The "suggested" therapy RUG group for this person was Low.
Now I know that if we delivered the exact number of therapy minutes for every patient for every RUG category, someone would be perusing through our books. And it's unethical to deliver fewer therapy minutes than the person needs regardless of the reimbursement rate. But I can see that before long, therapy minutes will be tracked closer and closer as more micro-management programs are developed and used.
Until next time, hope all your thoughts are good-
Tim