Please not that this article contains information that is only relevant to our American clients.

 

We’ve spoken at length about re-evaluations, and we’ve spoken about progress reports, too, but one subject we’ve yet to touch on is re-certifications. So without further ado, let’s talk about when you should to perform a re-certification.

 

I was looking through an article from Gawenda Seminars and Consulting the other day and it claimed that “a re-certification for Medicare Part B therapy services are required when the initial plan of care has expired or there has been a significant change in the patient’s condition that prompts the therapist to make significant changes to the current plan of care.” The article then went on to outline a few of the required elements of re-certifications:

 

• A diagnoses
• Long term treatment goals
• Type, amount, duration, and frequency of treatment
• Dated signature of the therapists who established the patient’s plan of care
• Dated signature of the physician or practitioner who certified the need for therapeutic services

 

If you’ve read one of our articles on re-evaluations, you’ll notice some subtle differences between the two types of documents. The same goes for progress reports, too. However, this raises the question: can a re-certification and a progress note be submitted as the same note?

 

“Absolutely,” said Gawenda. “If the therapist wrote a progress report and they also need to have an updated plan of care signed by the physician for continued services, the required elements for both could be documented in one medical entry on the patient’s medical record.” But if this were to happen, the therapist would need to send the document to the physician for their dated signature because it’s no longer just a progress report—it’s a re-certification.

 

Well, that’s all for this one. Be sure to check out the Gawenda Seminars and Consulting website for more helpful articles like this. And don’t forget to inquire about their Gold Membership subscription to access all of their exclusive content!

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