Editor’s Picks: Big Ruling on Home Care Wages, Cardinal’s Post-Acute Bet

In case you missed them, here are the top headlines grabbing readers’ attention this week, plus some other notable stories from around the web that caught our eye here at HHCN:

Most Read

UPDATE: Wage Rules Restored For Home Care, Supreme Court Review Possible—Late last week, a federal appeals court upheld Department of Labor rules extending minimum wage and overtime protections to nearly 2 million home care workers. Trade organizations the Home Care Association of America and the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) challenged the regulations, and NAHC leaders say they might seek Supreme Court review of the decision.

Amedisys Faces Lawsuit Over Lender Control of Board—A class action lawsuit filed against Amedisys Inc. (NASDAQ: AMED) claims the major home health and hospice provider entered into illegal credit agreements with lenders, giving them power to make changes within Amedisys’ board of directors.

Cardinal Health Bets Big Money on Smarter Post-Acute Placements—Cardinal Health (NYSE: CAH) has purchased a company that leverages data to determine whether hospital patients would benefit most from home health care or are better suited to a different post-acute setting, a deal that could total $410 million.

Weekend Reads

Medicare Reconsiders Rule That Leaves Dying Patients Facing a Stark Choice—A Medicare experiment will allow patients to receive hospice benefits while continuing treatment for their deadly diseases. Until this point, Medicare forced patients to choose between continuing with treatments in an attempt to extend their lives or accepting hospice care aimed at easing their way to death. The Washington Post takes a look at the effect this Medicare initiative might have on health care as a whole.

A Racial Gap In Attitudes Toward Hospice Care—Recent federal statistics suggest nearly half of white Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in hospice before death, as compared to only a third of black patients. The racial divide deepens further when it comes to advance care directives, as about 40% of whites over age 70 have such plans, while only 16% of blacks have them. Kaiser Health News delves into this disparity in hospice care.

Written by Kourtney Liepelt