As the political landscape of the country was pulled in every direction, from President Obama giving his final farewell address here in Chicago to President-elect Trump holding his first press conference in 146 days, things were just as action-packed in the home health industry.
Our readers wanted to stay up to date on the final rule for the home health Conditions of Participation (CoP), as well as learn why registered nurses play an important role in moving home care technology forward.
We paid attention to President-elect Donald Trump’s first press conference since July, which was held on Wednesday, January 11. During the conference, Trump briefly referenced his plans for the Affordable Care Act, noting, “We’re going to be submitting, once our secretary is confirmed, a plan.
“It will be repeal and replace,” he said. “It will be essentially simultaneous.”
The President-elect did not elaborate on what would be included in that plan.
Most read
CMS Issues Final Rule to Modernize Home Health Conditions of Participation—Last Monday a final rule was issued on the Medicare and Medicaid Conditions of Participation (CoP) for home health agencies. This followed a draft proposal that was released at the end of 2014. The final rule was published in the Federal Register on January 13, and can be viewed here.
Home Health Sector Faces Short Deadline for Sweeping New Rule—CMS issued its final rule for home health CoPs with roughly a six-month deadline for compliance. The conditions will be effective July 13, 2017. Some within the industry think six months is too little time to make necessary and significant changes.
Amedisys Seeks to Become ‘One-Stop Shop’ for Aging in Place—As one of the largest home health care providers in the country, Amedisys (Nasdaq: AMED) is taking on new strategies after a C-suite overhaul last year in hopes of becoming an overall “aging in place company.”
Study: Registered Nurses Vital to Home Care Technology Success—New data revealed what the future of telehealth and remote monitoring may look like in home health, according to a recent report by the University of California San Francisco. One important finding links better patient outcomes to more focused support and training on technology for registered nurses.
Weekend reads
Home-Based Primary Care: Making Health Systems More Age-Friendly—The days of home-based primary care are long gone for most of the country, but the strategy could be one way the health care system could become more age-friendly for older adults who are frail and/or homebound, The Huffington Post reports.
USC Researchers Aim To Boost Quality Of Life For Seriously Ill Patients —Research will soon be underway at the University of Southern California Leonard Davis School of Gerontology to compare the outcomes of patients who receive primary care in hospitals versus those who get home-based palliative care, USC reported. To fund the research, the USC team was approved for a $5 million award by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.
Could Flickering Lights Help Treat Alzheimer’s?—A professor from MIT may have found a therapy to improve symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease: blinking lights, Smithsonian Magazine reports. The lights, which appear more like twinkling stars than strobe lights, were tested on mice that were artificially induced with Alzheimer’s disease. The results showed that the mice that received the treatment had improvements in symptoms of the disease, specifically in the reduction of the beta amyloid plaque that is associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
Written by Alana Stramowski
Companies featured in this article:
Amedisys, CMS, MIT, Smithsonian Magazine, The Huffington Post, UCSF, USC
