Editor’s Picks, New Year’s Edition: OASIS Changes, Returned Duck

Home Health Care News will be out of the office on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 to celebrate the New Year. We’ll return to our regular posting schedule on Jan. 4. Here’s to 2016!

To tide you over, here’s what’s been happening in the home care industry the past week.

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12 States Urge Supreme Court to Overturn DOL Rule—The attorneys general from 12 states have requested that the U.S. Supreme Court review a lower court’s decision to effectively extend overtime protections and minimum wage to about 2 million home care workers across the United States, arguing that the ruling threatens residents’ access to in-home care.

Home Health Agencies Preview OASIS Changes—Home health agencies can now view a draft of the Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS) that will be used beginning in 2017. This version contains new standardized items, among other changes.

Blue Cross Breaks New Ground With End-of-Life Benefits—Starting Jan. 1, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts will cover more counseling sessions between patients and providers to talk about end-of-life care and expand access to hospice services. The insurer is also creating a home care program expected to start later in the year and announced it will expand hospice eligibility to patients anticipated to live 12 months or less.

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Weekend Read

Former Jailbird’s Homecoming All It’s Quacked Up To Be—At long last, Juanita the duck has been returned to the Bello Gardens assisted living facility in San Anselmo, California. Bello Gardens had previously lacked a federal permit to house a wild duck, so when Juanita flew away and landed in the care of a federal wildlife facility three months ago, she could not be legally returned. As part of the agreement to retrieve Juanita, she is now classified as an ‘educational wild animal.’ Bello Gardens has remodeled Juanita’s cage and even hired a duck expert to conduct educational duck programs for residents and local schoolchildren.

Written by Mary Kate Nelson

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