Executives from Pennant, VNSNY, First Choice Offer HHVBP Updates

Home health providers likely breathed a sigh of relief when the final payment rule for 2022 pushed the start date for the nationwide expansion of the Home Health Value-Based Purchasing (HHVBP) Model to 2023. Even so, many providers have begun actively preparing for the model’s implementation. Others, however, are taking a more passive approach. “The […]

VNSNY Launches Care Delivery Model Tailored to LGBTQ Community

In an effort to ensure health equity, the Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY) has launched a new care delivery model geared toward self-identified members of the LGBTQ community. “We listened to the community. They really wanted us to develop an LGBTQ+ program,” Arthur Fitting, LGBTQ+ program manager at VNSNY, told Home Health Care […]

Therapy’s Future Under Patient-Driven Groupings Model Unclear Due to COVID-19 Chaos

The Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) was described as home health care’s “boogeyman” before it was implemented. One of the chief concerns, especially for therapists, was that therapy utilization would significantly decrease in 2020 — and beyond — because of what PDGM incentivizes.  But preliminary data suggests that therapy did not decrease overall in 2020. It’s […]

VNSNY, HCR Home Care Outline Vaccination Strategies

It’s been four weeks since New York home health and hospice workers were deemed eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Since then, the state’s home-based care providers have had to navigate the often tricky process of helping their employees get inoculated. Similar to other parts of the U.S., home health and hospice workers in New […]

Home Health Executive Forecast for 2021: Reserving a Seat at the Big Kids’ Table

Going into 2020, many home health executives predicted that the Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) would kick off a wave of consolidation and agency closures. Others believed the phase out of Requests for Anticipated Payment (RAPs) would have a similar effect. For the most part, that didn’t happen. The COVID-19 pandemic — and all the policy […]

COVID-19 Patients Discharged from Home Health Care Often Have ‘Excellent’ Symptom Improvement, Functional Outcomes

So far, there’s been a lack of information on the characteristics and outcomes of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 who are discharged to the home setting. Researchers Kathryn Bowles and Margaret McDonald — both with the Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY) — are working to change that. For the past few months, Bowles and […]