After hours answering service for home care & NEMT agencies

What rules does after-hours answering follow for home care & NEMT?

1. HIPAA and the BAA. Client and member information is protected health information. Every engagement runs under a business associate agreement, staff are HIPAA-trained before they see a care plan or a trip, access is minimum necessary, and breach notification follows the HHS Office for Civil Rights rules.
2. EVV under the 21st Century Cures Act. Medicaid-funded personal care and home health visits must be verified electronically under the Cures Act, enforced by CMS through each state's aggregator. Assistants work exceptions in your EVV system daily so visits are complete, verified and billable, and never alter a caregiver's recorded times without a documented reason and your approval.
3. No clinical decisions. Assistants schedule, coordinate and relay. Changes to a care plan, a client's condition, a fall, a medication question or anything clinical goes to your RN supervisor or on-call nurse by the protocol your clinical lead signs, in line with state home care licensing rules.
4. TCPA for shift and trip messages. Shift offers, schedule confirmations and trip reminders go by text and call only with consent from caregivers, clients and members, inside calling hours, with opt-out wording, under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act enforced by the FCC.