In the home health business, we love acronyms. So, it was with a bit of a heavy heart that I said good-bye to HCFA, the popular acronym for the Health Care Financing Administration. On June 14, HCFA became the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services or CMS.

Now if you have ever struggled with Medicare claim denials or lain awake worrying about an audit, you probably think I’m crazy. “Good riddance to bad rubbish,” you say. “Why would anyone miss HCFA?”

But HCFA had certain redeeming qualities. First of all, it had an amazing ability to bring both Republicans and Democrats together. No matter what their political persuasion, everyone loved to criticize HCFA.

Second, HCFA was unique. According to the Internet database www.Acronym Finder.com, HCFA is shared only with Health Care Fraud Alert. In contrast, the acronym CMS is shared with 74 other names, including the Canadian Mathematical Society and certified mapping scientists. Plus, for butter-fingered typists, it is awfully close to CMN (certificate of medical necessity).

Organizational change that begins with a name change always makes me worry about how significant the real changes will be. I’m not alone in taking a wait-and-see attitude. “My knee jerk reaction is that it is only a cosmetic change,” said Lisa Thomas-Payne, president of Medical Reimbursement Systems Inc, Albuquerque, NM. “But as a general rule, when a government changes a large agency’s name, there is an underlying reason. Until we find out what some of the behind-the-scenes reasons for the change are, we will not know how this will affect the industry.”

Joel Marx, president of Medical Service Companies, South Euclid, Ohio, took an even more pragmatic approach. “How much is this going to cost?” he asked me. A few years ago, he had looked into changing the name of his own company and the cost of ordering new company letterhead, employees’ cards, and promotional materials had quickly convinced him to abandon the idea.

Good question, I thought, so I called HCFA’s (whoops, CMS’s) press office. After being transferred three times I reached a CMS spokesperson who, Deep Throat-like, refused to be quoted but said the cost would be $50,000 to change its Web site. Changes to forms, cards, signs, etc, would only be made as these items ran out and needed to be replaced.

I’m skeptical, but what do you think? Is CMS sticking to their promise of changing forms only as they run out in your area? Will CMS be more responsive and easier to deal with than HCFA? Please write me at Home Health Care Dealer/Provider, 6701 Center Drive West, Suite 450, Los Angeles, CA 90045 or at llindahl@medpubs.com.   We will share your responses in an upcoming issue.