SCA Announces Launch of New Online Resource for CMS Chaplaincy Codes

Website and Training Course Educates Chaplains and Hospital Administrators

NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, February 26, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Spiritual Care Association (SCA) today announced the launch of a website for chaplains seeking to learn about the three unique chaplain services codes recently approved for use in health care systems nationwide by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). This online resource center provides chaplains, chaplaincy department managers, directors, and administrators with the basic information and training they need to understand the importance of these codes and to begin incorporating them into patient documentation in their organization’s Electronic Medical Record system (EMR).

CMS is the federal agency within the Department of Health and Human Services that is charged with maintaining the Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS). These codes are used throughout the country to describe medical procedures and services provided by health care professionals as well as medical supplies, equipment, and other health care related services. Historically, chaplaincy has been almost entirely excluded from the HCPCS coding system. In October 2023, HealthCare Chaplaincy Network (HCCN) capped several years of effort by successfully advocating with CMS for the inclusion of three unique chaplain services codes for spiritual assessments, patient visits, and group interventions.

The online resource SCA is launching consists of a website that explains the chaplain services codes, provides information about how to use them, and gives advice for getting them implemented in the EMR. SCA has also developed a companion 10-hour self-paced training course. These resources are available at www.CMSChaplainCodes.org.

“These codes are an important milestone for the profession of clinical chaplaincy. As leading advocates in the field of health care chaplaincy, it was important for us to help advance the profession by putting resources into developing this website and training course and making it widely available to chaplains, chaplaincy department managers and directors, and hospital administrators. HCCN and SCA will continue to fully support the ongoing promotion and training necessary to maximize the potential of these codes,” said the Rev. Eric J. Hall, President and CEO of HCCN and SCA.

“One of the major reasons the integration of spiritual care in health care has lagged is because there are no standardized measures of the work chaplains do in patient care and the impact they have on health care outcomes,” said the Rev. George Handzo, Director of Health Services Research and Quality at HCCN. “These HCPCS codes will allow those measurements to start happening in organizations across the country and will eventually facilitate research into the relationship between chaplaincy visits, assessments, and outcomes including length of stay, site of death, and patient satisfaction scores.”

About HealthCare Chaplaincy Network
The HealthCare Chaplaincy Network (HCCN) is a nonprofit health care organization that helps people and families faced with the distress of illness and suffering to find spiritual comfort and meaning. HCCN provides continuing professional education and research on the effectiveness of chaplaincy care. For more information, visit www.healthcarechaplaincy.org or call 212-644-1111.

About Spiritual Care Association
The Spiritual Care Association (SCA) is the first multidisciplinary, international professional membership association for spiritual care providers that includes a comprehensive evidence-based model that defines, delivers, trains, and tests for the provision of high-quality spiritual care. SCA is a nonprofit affiliate of HealthCare Chaplaincy Network. For more information, visit www.SpiritualCareAssociation.org or call 212-644-1111.

Molly Sabala
HealthCare Chaplaincy Network
+1 212-644-1111
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