Home Care Giant BrightSpring to Merge with Major LTC Pharmacy PharMerica

Home- and community-based care giant BrightSpring Health Services — formerly known as ResCare — plans to merge with pharmacy company PharMerica. The two companies will be under the private equity ownership of KKR, with an affiliate of Walgreens Boots Alliance (Nasdaq: WBA) holding a minority stake, according to an announcement issued Tuesday. Full financial terms […]

3 Ways Home Care Providers Can Win Health Plan Attention

Health plans big and small have recognized the value home-based care providers bring to the table in terms of avoiding costly hospital readmissions and supporting America’s seniors as they age in place. But forging initial relationships with insurers — especially top Medicare Advantage (MA) players, such as UnitedHealthcare (NYSE: UNH), Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) and […]

$1 Million Pilot Brings Hospital Care to Canadians’ Homes

A pilot program in Canada is the latest demonstration of how hospital-level care can be successfully delivered in people’s homes. The Intensive Hospital to Home pilot is taking place just east of Detroit, in and around the city of Windsor, Ontario. It is being run through the Erie St. Clair Local Health Integration Network and […]

Medicare Spends More on Seniors With Highest Needs

Medicare spends roughly three times more on the 13% of beneficiaries who need help with two or more activities of daily living (ADLs) due to physical or cognitive impairments than those that don’t, according to a new study from the Long-Term Quality Alliance (LTQA). The alliance, which represents more than two dozen private and government entities with the goal […]

Caregiver Support Keeps More Stroke Patients Out of Nursing Homes

Male stroke sufferers without caregivers are more likely to end up in a long-term care facility than those who have more help, according to a new study published in the Oct. 26 edition of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. Within five years of a stroke, 21.3% of the study’s 560 participants were placed […]

Cost of In-Home Care Rose From Caregiver Shortage

Home-based services are increasingly getting more expensive thanks in part to ongoing labor woes, according to the latest Cost of Care Survey from insurer Genworth Financial (NYSE: GNW). The national median cost of home health aide services shot up 6.17% to $21.50 per hour, or $4,099 per month, from 2016 to 2017—the most pronounced increase among other care […]

Why It’s Hard to Be a New Nurse in Home Health

It’s certainly no secret that elder care providers of all stripes have trouble finding and retaining solid talent. But home health and home care companies have the added detriment of a largely solitary workplace environment, which can make it even more difficult for operators to convince new recruits that a patient’s home is the best […]

House Calls Company Landmark Extends Senior Care Services

It’s widely believed that treating the frailest seniors where they currently live—whether that’s in their home of 50 years or in a newly-built skilled nursing facility—can help them avoid unnecessary hospitalizations. Landmark Connect, the latest initiative from Buffalo, New York-based in-home medical care provider Landmark Health, certainly subscribes to this way of thinking. The business, […]

Seniors’ Homes May Hold Key to Pay for Home Health Care

At a time when more and more aging Americans need home health care but don’t have the pensions or savings to cover the costs, some experts say it could be wise to turn to a much-maligned source: the reverse mortgage. That was a message behind a Monday webinar, co-sponsored by the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders […]

Why Kindred is Not Content Being No. 1 Home Health Provider

Kindred Healthcare (NYSE: KND) currently is a behemoth in the post-acute sector, operating long-term care hospitals, inpatient rehab and skilled nursing centers—not to mention that it is the largest home health provider in the country. But in the future, being a health services provider may be less important than Kindred’s role as a manager of […]