MassHealth EVV Software

EVV System for Massachusetts

Alora has made EVV easy for Massachusetts home care agencies. Thousands of caregivers enjoy the ease of Alora EVV and love to use it every day – because it makes their work-life easier! The benefit for the MA agencies is not only compliance with MassHealth but also better operational efficiency than ever before!

Home Care Software with EVV for MassHealth

The Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) and MassHealth are going to require EVV for certain home and community-based services. Agencies may implement Alora Home Care Software with its built-in MassHealth EVV solution.  Alora EVV for MassHealth is an enhanced EVV solution that is fully integrated into a powerful home care agency management solution.

Integration with Optum EVV Aggregator

For Massachusetts Medicaid, EOHHS has chosen the “choice model” allowing agency providers to choose any EVV system that best fits their needs. The sole requirement is that the EVV system must be capable of providing the EVV data to the aggregator, Optum.  Alora EVV has been customized per Optum’s specifications for EVV data submission.

Alora Massachusetts EVV Benefits

• Live-Monitor visit activities and avoid the possibility of lost revenue due to no-shows
• Enjoy faster billing – completed visits are automatically readied for billing and payroll through Alora’s EVV automation
• Bill Aging Services Access Points (ASAP) through an export file from Alora
• Improve documentation compliance with Alora’s Plan of Care based visit notes
• Eliminate the inefficiency associated with manual data entry
• Centralize workflow into one complete solution for home health care & EVV
• Improve the efficiency of your caregivers

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Home Health Software with Built-in EVV

Alora is an Alternate EVV Vendor for Massachusetts. Alora features the convenience and certainty of EVV built into a comprehensive home health software system.

ALORA EVV FEATURES

Live Real-time Monitoring

Alora offers live monitoring of home visits, notifying your agency of both no-shows and delayed visits. Alora provides a real-time view of all home visits activity in real time. This ensures that your agency stays compliant and informed while avoiding the risks associated with lost revenue due to visit disruptions.

Faster, More Efficient Billing and Payroll

Alora EVV is integrated within our home health software. EVV data is automatically captured flows into the Alora full homecare software system. When an agency caregiver exits the patient’s home, the visit is instantly updated within Alora’s system with the start and end time recorded. The visit is then marked as completed. Instantly, the visit is ready for billing and payroll. All visits that did not occur as planned are flagged for manual review by your administrators.

Reduce Claim Denials Risk

When Minnesota EVV grace period has passed,  the possibility of denied claims will increase for those who are not comfortable with an approved system. Is your agency going to be at risk for claim denials? Alora integrates EVV into claims processing to eliminate the risk of claim denials. With Alora, you can rest easy.

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Automation & Simplicity

Alora standardizes ease and automation through home health software technology, positioning your agency to enjoy a heightened level of workflow that ensures efficiency and accuracy. The outdated process of committing several manual hours daily to enter and verify EVV data will be a welcome elimination from your staff’s workflow. Inefficient practices cost agencies time and money, while raising the possibility of costly errors that can put Medicaid reimbursement and agency solvency at risk. With Alora, simple is not only power, it’s profitable.

Call 1-800-954-8250 Ext 2 to speak with a Massachusetts EVV Agency Solutions Consultant.

Integrated EVV Advantages

Alora makes work life easier for both administrators and caregivers. The benefits of having Electronic Visit Verification fully integrated within Alora’s homecare software system begin with the fact that Alora already houses visit information from the point the caregiver arrives at a patient’s home. Upon their arrival at a patient’s residence, caregivers can simply press “Start Visit” and proceed with the patient care.

Stand-alone EVV systems lack prior data from the visit, lack information on a client’s Medicaid ID, and lack agency information, caregiver identity, and details of the services being provided. Caregivers are forced to enter all of this information upon arrival, wasting time and raising the risk of manual entry mistakes. Alora’s EVV solution removes these burdens from agencies with a centralized interface designed for both agency admin and caregiver ease. Caregivers can use Alora EVV on their mobile device of choice.

Care Plan based Visit Notes for your Aides and nurses

Alora generates patient-specific visit notes derived from the Plan of Care. Aides and nurses can perform documentation directly from Alora’s EVV interface on their mobile device, simplifying processes and creating assurance that care was implemented accurately and on time.

How can Alora help?

Empower Nurses and Aides

Alora empowers aides and nurses with a software tool to not only capture electronic visit verification, but additionally

• Access Alora from their smartphones or other mobile devices
• Check their schedules
• Look up client information on their mobile device
• Complete plan of care-based visit notes
• Communicate with the agency through secure mail with text notifications.

Alora offers agencies an award-winning nurse-friendly home health software solution that is fully supported by a technical support team committed to agency success. Nurses can complete visit notes and assessments right at the patient’s home, while enjoying access to all relevant clinical information at their fingertips. The EVV component of Alora grants caregivers immediate access to skilled nursing visit notes and OASIS assessments, ensuring that workflow at the patient’s home stays simple and straightforward.

Telephony

What happens if a caregiver arrives at a patient’s home and finds no Internet connectivity? Alora offers homecare telephony as a back up to our GPS based EVV software. If your caregiver is performing services in a home and Internet is out, the caregiver can use Alora’s telephony solution to capture EVV.

All-in-One Solution for Massachusetts Home Health Care

Alora is not solely an Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) solution, additionally it is a powerful home health software for Massachusetts agencies. Alora is engineered to operate as a complete system for homecare, covering the full financial, clinical, and operational aspects of a home health care business.

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Excellence, Efficiency, and Financial Success

Alora Home Health Software offers all the features and functionality for your agency to reach the next level:

Alora‘s flexible implementation methodologies allow you to choose the features you and your employees need to realize peak productivity.

Mobile-Ready Web-based Platform – Connectivity with Any Device

Alora’s Home Health Software is a fully mobile, browser friendly solution. Alora’s point of care features can be scaled to any device. Caregivers can access Alora using their smartphones, tablets, and laptops.

Massachusetts EVV

Information & Facts on Massachusetts Electronic Visit Verification

Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) is defined as a system that verifies through electronic means the date, time, and location of when a person receives services in the home or community. In the state of Massachusetts, EVV impacts programs overseen by:

• MassHealth
• The Executive Office of Elder Affairs
• The Department of Developmental Services
• The Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission

EVV ensures accurate care delivery outcomes by ensuring that appropriate services have been rendered to the correct individuals, which reduces the administrative burden of paper timesheets, decreases billing errors, while inhibiting unauthorized spending.

For traditional service provider agencies, the Executive Office of Health and Human Services is utilizing an approach for compliance with EVV requirements that offers choices. To meet the requirements, traditional service provider agencies may choose between:

1. Using the “MyTimesheet” EVV application that is being designed, developed, and implemented by the state’s contractor, Optum
2. Choose an EVV system that meets Data Aggregator requirements

*Consumer self-direction programs will comply with EVV requirements by utilizing the MyTimesheet EVV application.

Electronic Visit Verification is a federal requirement for Medicaid-funded home health care and personal services. The (EOHHS) Executive Office of Health and Human Services administers the Massachusetts Medicaid program known as MassHealth and will provide an EVV system that complies with federal Medicaid requirements, while minimizing any undue burden on users. EOHHS is slated to begin implementation of EVV in programs that provide specific home and community-based services.

EVV & The 21^ST Century Cures Act

Section 12006 of the 21st Century Cures Act required that all 50 States implement EVV in Medicaid programs for personal care services by January 1, 2020, and for home health care services by January 1, 2023, for in-home visits.

Learn more about Home Health Software for Massachusetts

Massachusetts EVV Good Faith Exemption

When does MA EVV start?

Massachusetts and other states have been granted good-faith extensions upon request, due to implementation hurdles or the complications of operations associated with COVID-19. Massachusetts was among the states that made a good faith effort extension request in December of 2019. CMS granted the extension, citing the following in an official extension letter:

“Because your state has sufficiently demonstrated it has made a good faith effort to comply with EVV requirements and has encountered unavoidable delays, CMS will not apply federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP) reductions in calendar year 2020. Please be advised that the Cures Act provision on good faith effort exemptions does not provide CMS with authority to delay the FMAP reductions for more than one year. Therefore, if the state is not fully compliant by January 1, 2021, FMAP reductions will be applied beginning in the first quarter of 2021 and every quarter thereafter until the state achieves compliance.”

Additional EVV Information

Security & Personal Data

Protecting personal information collected during EVV has been a top priority of focus for MassHealth. The state’s new electronic clock-in and clock-out system “MyTimesheet”, will follow strict Protected Health Information (PHI) and Personally Identifiable Information (PII) standards.

HCPCS Codes

HCPCS (Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System) has a list of codes associated with EVV services. For the initial EVV implementation in 2020, the HCPCS codes associated with personal care services are Personal care (T1019), Homemaker (S5130), and Companion (S5135).

Attestation

During the attestation process, providers confirm with EOHHS that their alternate-EVV systems comply with the requirements mandated in the 21st Century Cures Act and with other EOHHS requirements and policies.

Alternate-EVV Systems

Massachusetts sometimes uses the term “Alt-EVV,” which refers to EVV systems used by provider agencies that are outside of the MyTimesheet EVV system. These are considered “alternate” EVV systems to the MyTimesheet system. As long as these alternate EVV systems collect and transmit the data accurately, providers are free to choose their own system for Massachusetts electronic visit verification.

What is a fixed device?

Fixed devices are defined as small objects in consumers’ homes that may be used to verify visits as a component of an alternate-EVV system for Massachusetts. Fixed devices generate a one-time code when a worker arrives and leaves. That code can be used to verify that the worker was in the home and conducted the visit.

Latest Updates

For current updates and information on EVV implementation in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts please visit the MassHealth EVV web page at www.mass.gov/info-details/electronic-visit-verification.

Massachusetts EVV System Requirements

What information does MA EVV collect?

Per the 21^st Century Cures Act, any approved EVV system must verify:

• The type of services performed
• Full legal name of the patient who received the service
• The exact date and time of the service
• The location or address where the service was performed
• The legal name of the caregiver who provided the service
• Exact start and end times services were performed

More About Alora

Alora is one of the nation’s premier providers of software solutions for the Home Health Care industry. We are a trusted partner to countless agencies operating in the state of Massachusetts, improving agency productivity, profitability, and performance. Alora automates virtually every data capture and management function of an agency’s day to day operations.

The 21st Century Cures Act mandates the use of EVV systems by home care agencies when billing through Medicaid. Alora helps agencies meet and exceed these requirements for electronic visit verification for Massachusetts Medicaid patient visits.

Since 2005, Alora has been a preferred software vendor for home health agencies in Massachusetts helping these organizations improve patient care and operational efficiency.  Alora was built on a culture that encourages continuous improvement and customer satisfaction. The result is a team of professionals who are dedicated to effectively satisfying your needs by providing the most powerful, yet easy to learn and implement the technology.

Read more about electronic visit verification in Massachusetts, as well as finding a compliant EVV system in our MassHealth blog