Editor’s Picks: Amedisys CEO on Boosting Star Ratings

After retiring our white trousers and resting up on Labor Day, we were here to bring our readers the latest home health happenings across the industry. This week, readers were still itching for more information about the pre-claim review, after two Florida Senators wrote to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to delay implementation of the demonstration model in the Sunshine State.

The Baird 2016 Global Healthcare Conference in New York City brought together some industry bigwigs, and we tuned in to share Amedisys Inc. (Nasdaq: AMED) CEO Paul Kusserow’s views on recent regulations and why he’s so confident about star ratings.

Here in the newsroom, we were wishing we could take a trip to Richmond, California, and catch a tour with a 94-year old woman who works as a park ranger and is something of a local celebrity.

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Senators Push for Pre-Claim Delay After ‘Complete Mess’ in Illinois—Two U.S. Senators, Ben Nelson (D-FL) and Marco Rubio (R-FL), have called for the delay of a controversial home health pre-claim review demonstration program in Florida, and they reiterated concerns over how pre-claim threatens providers and patients. And their concerns appear well-founded, considering reports from providers in Illinois, where pre-claim has already been implemented.

Amedisys CEO: Cracking the Case on Star Ratings, Weathering Pre-Claim—When it comes to some of the major programs recently rolled out by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), including star ratings and pre-claim audits, the leader of one of the nation’s largest home health providers is projecting confidence. Amedisys has taken major strides to scale its technologies and boost star ratings, as every Amedisys care center is on track to achieve at least a four-star rating by the end of 2017, CEO Paul Kusserow said Wednesday at the Baird 2016 Global Healthcare Conference in New York City.

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1 in 4 Home Care Workers Lives in Poverty—Taking inflation into account, American home care workers are actually making lesser wages than they did 10 years ago—despite their jobs being in greater demand than ever before. In fact, given the enormity of the upcoming demand for home care workers, this trend is unsustainable, according to a new research report.

Around the Web

Uber and Lyft Expand Their Push into Rides for Senior Citizens—Early this year, Lyft and Uber announced they would find ways for Americans without smartphones—particularly senior citizens—to use their apps, Mashable writes. Those partnerships are now expanding to get more elderly Americans access to the ride-hailing services. Both companies recently announced new partnerships with health care providers to allow their clients to use Lyft and Uber to get to doctors’ appointment, family outings and wherever else home care recipients need to go.

Doctors Wasting Over Two-Thirds of Their Time Doing Paperwork—If medical school curricula were based on what a recent study says many doctors actually do with their time, more than half of their education would be spent learning how to do paperwork, Forbes writes. That’s because doctors spend two hours doing paperwork for every hour physicians see patients, according to a recent study.

Amy’s Adds

Meet the 94-Year Old Park Ranger Who Works Full Time and Never Wants to Retire—Betty Reid Soskin, 94, is something of a celebrity as a park ranger assigned to the Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, California, Business Insider says. Without any plans of slowing down, Soskin is a popular lady among tour audiences and has explored so many different careers, it’s hard to keep up.

Written by Amy Baxter

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