The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) paints a rosy portrait of home health margins. But an analysis of cost reporting data – that considers both traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage (MA) payments – shows that providers are generally not sitting atop a hill of money. Instead, they are struggling to stay above water. Kalon Mitchell […]
Category: CMS
Patients are receiving less access to Medicare-certified home health care in recent years, according to a new data analysis. The data analysis – which comes from the Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare (PQHH) and CareJourney by Arcadia – examines Medicare home health fee-for-service claims from 2022 through 2023, in order to determine access to care, […]
Yet another significant cut to home health payments has been proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for 2025. For providers, that means more pushback against cuts is in order, locally and in Washington, D.C. But it also means preparing for a world where Medicare fee-for-service is no longer a reliable backbone. […]
Home-based care leaders are gaining some gusto. They are at the helm of the organizations that should, theoretically, be the beneficiaries of an overload of demand over the next decade. In the past, providers have pleaded for a “seat at the table” in the health care continuum. But, to a certain extent, they now hold […]
Contessa Health, a subsidiary of Amedisys Inc. (Nasdaq: AMED), has been selected by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to participate in its Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience (GUIDE) Model. The model aims to create more comprehensive and coordinated dementia care. The company joins nearly 400 participants in developing nationwide dementia care programs […]
The third year of the Home Health Value-Based Purchasing (HHVBP) Model expansion comes with changes. Some measures will be retired, and some new ones will be added. Home health providers looking to achieve HHVBP success will need to prepare for this updated version of the model. “You need to be thinking about how you’re doing […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) launched the Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience (GUIDE) Model on July 1, which aims to create more comprehensive, coordinated dementia care. Some home-based care providers have been named participants in the program, and many more plan to get involved. CMS hopes the GUIDE Model will improve the […]
Last month, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its home health proposed payment rule for 2025. Since then, home health providers and industry stakeholders have reacted to the proposal’s cuts, as well as other payment factors that could impact the space moving forward. Though payment factors are top of mind, there […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience (GUIDE) Model is live. Among its participants are a wide range of home-based care providers. CMS said that there will be almost 400 participating organizations building Dementia Care Programs (DCPs) to serve Medicare beneficiaries at first. “DCPs represent a wide range of […]
Providers examining the 2025 home health proposed payment rule may be experiencing some déjà vu, according to William A. Dombi, the president of the National Association for Home Care & Hospice’s (NAHC). “Much of what we see in the rule is just, on the payment side of it in particular, an update from ‘23 and […]