Introduction to Electronic Visit Verification and 21st Century Cures Act

As most healthcare is starting to enter the 21^st century technologically, one is going to make a major leap in the next few months. The use of Electronic visit verification (EVV) is undergoing massive legislation changes. New legislation called the 21^st Century CURES Act was passed requiring that “all Medicaid-reimbursed home care providers across the country must be utilizing EVV as of January 1, 2019”.

This legislation has been put in place to ensure that home care visits are actually taking place by tracking visits through Electronic Visit Verification (EVV). EVV is an application tracked by a GPS to track home care providers to make sure they are actually completing their home visits. Furthermore, the use of Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) is being implemented to help curtail Medicaid fraud which in 2014 “the U.S. government recovered $3.3 billion from individuals and companies that attempted to defraud federal health programs”.

Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) will reduce the frauds happening in the United States home healthcare market. This electronic visit application will not only track caregivers visits but also improve quality of care. There are four models of Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) present by the USA Government.

Five Models of EVV are

1. Provider Choice Model
2. Managed Care Plan (MCP) Choice
3. State Mandated In-house System
4. State Mandated External Vendor
5. Open Choice Model

The implementation of this system is invaluable to home healthcare because it gives healthcare providers the ability to “reduce missed visits and late starts, improve patient care and client outcomes, and reduce paper documentation traditionally associated with visit verification”.

The impact that the use of Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) would have on the home healthcare landscape is massive, it makes home healthcare more efficient, and effective as it helps streamline care, and reduces the amount of paperwork that needs to be done which will help home healthcare be run more effectively.