In a year filled with attention-grabbing, newsworthy articles, it can be easy for some stories to fall through the cracks, no matter how compelling.

As the year comes to a close, it’s the perfect time to revisit some of the Home Health Care News stories that warrant a second viewing.

These stories cover the truth behind home health margins, the state of InnovAge after regulatory challenges, how providers ensure advanced hospital care can be delivered in the home, Hurricane Helene and Milton’s impact on care delivery and more.

Here are some of HHCN’s favorite hidden gems of 2024.

CenterWell President Sanjay Shetty: ‘It’s Time To Give Home Health Its Due’ (March 12)

As the head of Humana’s (NYSE: HUM) health care services division — which includes CenterWell Home Health, CenterWell Primary Care and CenterWell Pharmacy — Dr. Sanjay Shetty has been enthusiastic about the power of home health care.

During this one-on-one with HHCN Senior Editor Andrew Donlan, Shetty explained CenterWell Home Health’s growth objectives. He also opened up about why home health care’s evolution is critical to the future of health care in general.

“I think we still have to unlock all of the ways in which the home can be used in the care continuum, because I think we’re still focused on too few use cases,” Shetty said. “And I think we need to try to foster a place to innovate, to allow us to think differently about how home care can be delivered in the settings in which it isn’t. But I’m bullish on it, because I think it’s a necessity. I think, if we default to everything being in the hospital, we’re going to be dead in the water.”

InnovAge Wants PACE To Be More Than Just Health Care’s ‘Best Kept Secret (August 12)

Despite being one of the biggest operators in the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) arena, InnovAge Holding Corp. (Nasdaq: INNV) has seen its fair share of regulatory challenges.

After taking great efforts to resolve many of these issues, InnovAge CEO Patrick Blair was ready to talk about what he referred to as the company’s “year of continuous improvement.”

“It starts with the relationship,” Blair said. “The first thing we really needed to do was start engaging deeply with CMS and our state partners. In that case, it was both Colorado and California, and using the audit findings as a roadmap for opportunities for improvement. We had regular working sessions with them, where they provided us input and direction based on their audit findings.”

During the conversation, Blair was also forward looking when it came to the future of PACE.

“I tell people, PACE is the best kept secret in health care, and we’ve got to do a much better job of creating awareness of the value that it delivers,” he said. “We have to ​​ensure the program flourishes, over the long term. That’s a hard business objective of the company.”

‘A Deteriorating Industry’: What Home Health Provider Margins Actually Look Like (October 7)

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) have maintained that home health margins are too high.

But a holistic analysis of cost reporting data, which includes traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage (MA) payments, paints a different picture.

“We can see a deteriorating industry, and yet the narrative from CMS and MedPAC is that there’s no better industry to be in than home health care,” Kalon Mitchell, who conducted the analysis, told HHCN. “They have the highest profit margins, and that’s what Congress sees when they look at their report. That’s what they hear when they talk to CMS and MedPAC. But when they talk to agencies and advocates, they hear the opposite.”

How Providers Are Turning The Home Into A Hospital (November 27)

Since the pandemic, hospital-at-home care has seen more widespread adoption. The Acute Hospital Care at Home program, which was recently extended, is one of the key reasons behind this evolution.

However, simply setting patients up in their home is a small part of the equation. Hospital-at-home operators must be thorough when determining patient eligibility for this type of care. Providers need to factor in things like home environment, location of residence, safety and much more.

Here, organizations like Mass General Brigham Healthcare at Home, Health First, and others go into detail about the processes that help bring advanced care into the home.

How Home-Based Care Providers Survived Devastating Hurricanes In The Southeast (October 23)

This past year, home care agencies operating in the Southeast had to navigate the devastating impacts of both Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.

Andy Malivuk, the owner of Seniors Helping Seniors Pinellas County, and Heidi Nyvoll, the owner of Right at Home Charlotte County, opened up about how they were able to deliver care and keep seniors safe during these challenging times.

‘We’ve Had To Walk Away’: Home Health Providers Saying ‘No’ To Medicare Advantage (October 25)

Though problems between home health providers and MA plans have long existed, providers took steps to take a stand this past year, which is a trend that is expected to continue in 2025.

“With the MA plans, it’s just becoming incredibly difficult,” Jeanne Byl, owner and COO of Interim HealthCare Great Lakes, told HHCN. “And quite honestly, we’ve had to walk away.”

Bridging The Divide: Addressing The Unique Challenges Of Rural Home Health Care Access (December 2)

As home health providers try to address health disparities that exist for seniors living in rural areas, they continue to face difficulties.

“Access to health care professionals at all levels can be challenging,” Care Advantage CEO Tim Hanold told HHCN. “Matching supply and demand is a more complex equation in rural settings due to limited financial resources, geographic spread, low population density and potentially more complex patient needs.”

The Home Health Nursing Problem That Isn’t Going Away (September 26)

“If I had 200 nurses show up in my parking lot, I would hire them all without interviewing them,” Bill English, president and CEO of Accurate Home Care, facetiously told HHCN.

English’s joke is a reminder that recruiting nurses remains a major pain point for providers delivering care in the home. In fact, an analysis, published by the Health Resources and Services Administration in 2022 estimated a shortage of nearly 80,000 nurses in 2025.

Plus, home health providers are often competing with more heavily resourced health systems for talent.