Home Health Agencies See PDGM as Major Growth Opportunity

A joint survey from Dallas-based Axxess — a home health technology company — and advisory firm BKD reiterated that the Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) and staffing are the dominant contemporary concerns among home health agencies. Released earlier this week, the 2020 Industry Trends Report collected responses from employees in many positions at both large and […]

Elder-Well CEO: Home Care’s Rising Costs Creating New Business for Adult Day Operators

Elder-Well, a non-medical social model for adult day care, has begun offering opportunities for entrepreneurs to franchise its service. The franchising play is yet another example of how adult day models are taking off across the U.S. The Framingham, Massachusetts-based Elder-Well was founded in 2014 by home health veterans Kara and Ken Harvey. With nearly […]

Amedisys CEO: If We Don’t Produce High-Quality Care, We Shouldn’t Be in Business

Amedisys Inc. (Nasdaq: AMED) — the second-largest home health provider in the country, according to LexisNexis — is aiming to become the industry’s leader in employee turnover rates. Just five years ago, the Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based home health giant sported over a 40% turnover rate. That number was lowered to under 16% by the end […]

Lyft, Sutter Health Tackle Home Health Roadblocks in New Transportation Partnership

Ride-hailing giant Lyft Inc. (Nasdaq: LYFT) announced Monday that it’s teaming up with California-based nonprofit health system Sutter Health. And one of the key aims of the partnership is to help Sutter’s home health employees with transportation to and from patients’ homes. With Lyft as a resource, Sutter — a big home health organization in […]

Targeting ‘Super-Utilizers’ with In-Home Care May Not Curb Health Care Spending

One method using in-home care that inspired hope in reducing health care spending may not be effective after all. Tending more to “super-utilizers” did not reduce hospital readmissions, according to a new study from The New England Journal of Medicine. Super-utilizers are the 5% of the patient population that make up half of the nation’s […]

Lifesprk Partnership Helps North Memorial Lower Its Re-Hospitalization Rate by 47%

Minneapolis-based North Memorial Health has partnered with Lifesprk, a holistic home care provider also based in Minneapolis, to help serve the health system’s rapidly aging patient population. And the partnership is already seeing some impressive results in terms of lowering re-hospitalization rates and ER utilization The goal of the partnership — announced in December — […]

Anthem, Aspire Exec Brad Smith to Lead Medicare’s Innovation Center

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI)’s new director is Brad Smith, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced Monday. Previously, Smith co-founded and worked as the CEO of the home-based palliative care provider Aspire Health before it was sold to national insurance giant Anthem in May 2018. He most recently […]

AlayaCare Acquires Procura; The Pennant Group Lands New Home Health Agency

AlayaCare announced Friday it has acquired Procura, a division of Complia Health and one of AlayaCare’s largest global competitors. Separately, The Pennant Group (Nasdaq: PNTG) also announced an acquisition of its own.  For AlayaCare, the newly announced deal continues the Montreal-based company’s aggressive growth strategy and lays the groundwork for 2020, founder and CEO Adrian […]

Early Errors and Therapy Turmoil: Home Health Insiders Weigh In on PDGM’s Arrival

The long-awaited Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) is finally here, marking the biggest home health reimbursement overhaul in two decades. PDGM officially launched on Jan. 1 after originally being proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in July 2018. With changes to billing periods, therapy reimbursement and LUPAs, it’s the most significant shift […]