in this issue:

• Medical Director's Corner
• Reminder: Electronic Submission of Medical Records
• Updating Your Contact Information with Kepro
• Immediate Advocacy Success Story
• Outreach: Focus on Long-term Care Ombudsman

medical director's corner

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) held its annual Quality Conference on March 2-3, 2021. The theme of this year’s virtual conference was Healthcare Innovation during a Time of Disruption. The conference opened with a plenary keynote by Lee Fleisher, MD, CMS Chief Medical Officer, that focused on how to turn quality data into action. He discussed how health care organizations can come out of the public health emergency well-positioned to continue improving patient safety and outcomes.

There was a session titled “Reaching the Vision: Challenges and Opportunities of Advancing Innovation and Partnership Across the Beneficiary and Family-Centered Care (BFCC) Program,” which looked at the future of the BFCC program with the goal of collectively improving the quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries. Kepro presented at a session titled “Innovations in Beneficiary and Family-Centered Care During COVID-19” discussing how Kepro has helped Medicare beneficiaries and their families during the pandemic.

With approximately 5,000 attendees, the conference had the largest gathering of health care quality leaders assembled by the federal government. The overall goal of the conference was to develop and spread solutions to address our country’s healthcare challenges.

– Jessica Whitley, MD, Medical Director

reminder: electronic submission of medical records

As of October 2020, CMS requires providers to send medical records to Kepro electronically. If providers are not able to comply with this requirement, they must request a waiver from Kepro. Waivers will need to be renewed every calendar year. If medical records are not sent by the approved method without a waiver, they will not be reimbursed.

Medical records for hospital discharge and skilled service termination appeals can be sent using Kepro’s online tool. You will receive a medical request from Kepro with detailed instructions.

Medical records for quality of care complaints must be submitted to the CMS Managed File Transfer (MFT) website. Your organization’s dedicated contact person will receive an email from “CMS-MFT” which may also appear as “noreply@hcqis.org” with upload instructions. You may need to check your spam/junk mail for the email. For more information about the quality of care submission process, read: Provider Instructions for Submitting Medical Records for Quality of Care Reviews.

For more information about the electronic submission process, including waiver information, frequently asked questions, or reimbursement information,

• Visit Our Medical Records page
• Watch our YouTube video, Electronic Medical Record Submission

reminder: updating your contact information with kepro

Providing the most current staffing information helps ensure timely communication and avoid possible delays.

Unsure who Kepro has listed as your organization’s dedicated contact person?
Send an email to moa@kepro.com to verify the information on file.

Use our online form to update your organization’s contact information.

immediate advocacy success story

Immediate Advocacy is an informal process in which the BFCC-QIO acts as a liaison for people with Medicare to quickly resolve an oral complaint. Kepro would like to share success stories with providers to show how Immediate Advocacy can benefit providers by resolving problems quickly, which leads to improved patient relations.

A Medicare beneficiary contacted Kepro with concerns about his home health services. He filed an appeal and won, but the agency had not been back to his home to continue services. He had called them multiple times with no successful resolution. He called Kepro and asked about Immediate Advocacy services.

The Clinical Care Coordinator (CCC) spoke with the director of the home health agency. The director stated that the beneficiary only wanted the home health aide to come in for a bath, but he did not want therapy. For skilled care to be covered under Medicare, therapy is required. She explained that currently he was not discharged from services, but he was declining therapy.

The CCC contacted the beneficiary and explained the situation. He stated that he would continue the therapy and would like the agency to come back out for services. The CCC then contacted the agency to let them know that the beneficiary would participate in the therapy. The director stated that she was glad that the situation was able to be resolved. The CCC then reached back out to the beneficiary to let him know the agency would be contacting him.

outreach: focus on long-term care ombudsman

One of the roles of Kepro Outreach staff is to build relationships and collaborate with other organizations that work with the senior (+65) population. The long-term care (LTC) ombudsman program is found in every state and some territories of the United States. They are valuable partners in our mission of providing information to seniors about Kepro’s services. Funded by the United States government under the Older Americans Act, the LTC ombudsman staff work to resolve problems related to the rights of individuals who live in LTC facilities, such as nursing homes, board and care homes, assisted living facilities, and other residential care communities. Below is a testimonial from the Texas Long-Term Care Ombudsman.

“The Texas Long-Term Care Ombudsman Office has proudly worked with Kepro and the organization’s Outreach Specialist for over five years. Kepro has continuously provided education and outreach to the staff that serves the state office and the local ombudsman offices. These Outreach Specialists have come to attend and present at quarterly staff training and yearly conferences to over 75 state and local ombudsman. The Kepro Outreach Specialist is also always available to answer questions that arise from the many Medicare beneficiaries from across the state. Our ombudsman are grateful for Kepro and the willingness to ensure that we provide Medicare beneficiaries with the most up-to-date and correct information when filing appeals, understanding the complaint process, and requesting Immediate Advocacy.”

 – Texas Long-Term Care Ombudsman

Publication No. R146810-175-4/2021. This material was prepared by Kepro, a Medicare Quality Improvement Organization under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The contents presented do not necessarily reflect CMS policy.