Home health providers of all shapes and sizes are currently taking a good, hard look at themselves in the mirror. For the Atlanta-based Visiting Nurse Health System (VNHS), that self-reflection has meant redefining relationships with payers, reprioritizing internal operations and recommitting to talent acquisition, according to Dorothy Davis, the nonprofit’s president and CEO. “In the […]
Like a shock to the system, the COVID-19 emergency has been a catalyst for major change across the health care continuum. Home-based care providers, in particular, have been forced to evolve in a multitude of ways. As an industry thought leader and expert in aging, Dr. Bill Thomas has always been at the forefront of […]
The frequency of low-utilization payment adjustments (LUPAs) increased for many home health providers in the first year of the Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM), which coincided with the COVID-19 crisis. In part, that’s because there are far more LUPA variables to keep track of under the new payment model. At times, increases were also linked to […]
Changes to the requirements for Medicare provider enrollment could have major consequences for home health providers down the line. Under provider enrollment requirements, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has the authority to rescind providers’ Medicare enrollment if they are associated with “bad actors” and are at risk for fraud due to […]
Amedisys Inc. (Nasdaq: AMED) hasn’t been shy about the company’s plans to gain an even larger share of business from other post-acute care operators. With that in mind, the company has been focused on setting up shop in the SNF-at-home space, pairing skilled home health care with non-medical personal care services. Those efforts have now […]
Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) believes it can deliver home health services better than traditional providers do today. More than any other reason, that’s fundamentally why it’s accelerating its in-home care strategy by acquiring 100% of home health giant Kindred at Home for a “bargain” purchase price of $5.7 billion — the company’s largest acquisition ever. […]
As one of the largest aging-in-place companies in the nation, Amedisys (Nasdaq: AMED) has a footprint that stretches across nearly 40 states. It has turned one of those states into its chief innovation hub, partly thanks to its small but creative personal care services division. At the end of 2020, the Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based Amedisys […]
Home care operators have had to work around plenty of new challenges since last spring, from sourcing personal protective equipment to securing Paycheck Protection Program loans. Yet an old operational hurdle remains the toughest to overcome: staffing. Even amid the pandemic, most home care businesses have managed to grow. That growth has continued in 2021 […]
The demand for behavioral health services was rising even before the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, more home health providers have been wondering what it takes to step into the space. Over the past 12 months, the public health emergency has taken a considerable toll, worsening mental or behavioral health conditions for many people in […]
HCA Healthcare (NYSE: HCA) is the largest health system in the U.S. That scale alone has made its entrance into the home health space worth paying attention to. In February, HCA announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a majority stake in Brookdale Senior Living’s (NYSE: BKD) up-and-down home health and […]