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You may have come across the term ”Electronic Visit Verification” EVV if you own a home care business. With lots of excitement regarding the implementation of EVV in different states, only a few are aware of the deadline to implement the same!

If you don’t implement EVV before January 1^st, 2020, there are chances that your Medicaid claims would be rejected! Yes, you have to choose an EVV software soon to maintain your compliance with your state’s regulations. There are a lot of doubts regarding the deadline, and what would happen if an agency fails to implement EVV before January 2020?

Here’s what all will happen to Medicaid claims after January 2020.

What are the consequences of not implementing EVV by the given date?

States that have not implemented EVV by January 1, 2020, will be subject to Federal Medical Assistance Percentages (FMAP) reductions unless they have both made a “good faith effort” to comply and have encountered “unavoidable system delays.”

Federal government and state allow agencies to choose any EVV-based system for their agency. It is thus mandatory for the home care agencies to rely on any of the EVV vendors that can make them compliant.

If an agency doesn’t get compliance before the deadline, their Medicaid claims won’t be accepted by their respected state.

What changes can be expected with the implementation of EVV?

The following is a high-level summary of anticipated changes with the implementation of EVV:

Things that will not change:

Member choice of provider

Availability of services

Member choice of individual direct caregiver

How services are provided

Where services are provided

Things that will change:

Elimination of paper timesheets

Use of EVV devices

How a client/caregiver signature is collected

Verification is required by member/representative at the end of every visit/shift

You No Longer Comply with State Regulations

If you are not considering EVV for your agency, you need to think again! Yes, your compliance with your respected state would be affected, which is the reason you may end up losing clients.

The ones who don’t implement EVV before the deadline are subject to denial of their Medicaid claims, which would then require digital records and not just conventional paperwork.

How Does the EVV System Work? Is EVV mandatory?

Electronic Visit Verification tracks the beginning of a service offered by a caregiver along with the total duration of the service. The entire data is electronically stored and can be used by the agencies for claiming Medicaid.

Most of the agencies have already switched to electronic visit verification EVV and secured their compliance. While most of them still question- ‘What does EVV mean?’, and are still baffled whether they need to implement EVV or not. To their surprise, the Federal government has already provided a deadline along with the regulations that are different for every state and shouldn’t be ignored.

Conclusion

The above-mentioned aspects are enough to depict the severity of EVV implementation for the home care agencies. Ignoring the deadline may impact a business sternly.