Evv home health: EVV as it lands on a skilled home health agency. EVV (electronic visit verification) is the one piece of agency software US law actually requires, so this page starts from the statute rather than a vendor list: what must be captured at every Medicaid-funded visit, which dates the mandate took effect, how state models decide your real options, and where visits fail in practice.
The mandate, dated and cited
Section 12006(a) of the 21st Century Cures Act required states to mandate EVV for all Medicaid-funded personal care services by January 1, 2020 and for home health services by January 1, 2023 (Medicaid.gov). States chose their own models (state-run systems, state-chosen vendors, or open models where the agency picks) so the first question is never which app, it is which model your state runs and what it certifies.
The six data points, and where visits fail
Federal law requires each visit to capture the type of service, the individual receiving it, the date, the location, the individual providing it, and the time the service begins and ends. Visits fail on the mundane: a dead phone at the door, a rural dead zone, a carer clocking from the car. A workable EVV setup is mostly exception handling, and you should ask any vendor to show the exception queue before the capture screen.
Aggregators, and why your state's model decides your shortlist
In closed-model states your EVV system is chosen for you and the only question is how your scheduling and records feed it. In open-model states you pick a vendor that submits to the state aggregator, which makes certification against your state the first filter: a national vendor list means nothing if the integration to your aggregator is new.
EVV is capture; the plan is still the plan
Medicare's conditions of participation require each plan of care to be reviewed and revised no less frequently than once every 60 days from the start of care (42 CFR 484.60). EVV proves a visit happened; it says nothing about whether the visit matched the plan. Agencies that treat EVV as their record end up with perfectly verified visits against stale plans, which is exactly what a surveyor reads for.
Questions people ask about evv home health
Does EVV apply to private-pay visits?
The federal mandate covers Medicaid-funded personal care and home health services. Private-pay visits are outside it, though many agencies capture them identically because one workflow is cheaper than two.
What happens if visits are not verified?
Unverified Medicaid visits become unpayable claims: states match claims against EVV records and deny what does not reconcile. The operational answer is an exception queue someone owns every day, not a better app.
Which dates did the mandate take effect?
January 1, 2020 for Medicaid personal care services and January 1, 2023 for home health services, under section 12006(a) of the 21st Century Cures Act (Medicaid.gov).