So far, the transition to the Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) has gone smoothly for many home health agencies, with a majority successfully avoiding questionable encounters and achieving staffing efficiencies across their operations. Eagle, Idaho-based The Pennant Group Inc. (Nasdaq: PNTG) has seen positive results on its end, too, especially when it comes to coding accurately […]
Category: Home Health Care
Highmark Health has announced it is expanding its joint venture relationship with Contessa, a company that helps organizations provide hospital-level care in the home through its Home Recovery Care model. The expansion comes at a time when more health systems and hospitals are looking to redirect acute care into the home setting to maintain capacity […]
The COVID-19 emergency has underscored how valuable technology can be when it comes to caring for seniors in their homes. But while home-based care providers are increasingly upping their use of various technology solutions to aid in their virtual care efforts, there is still a number of providers uncertain about the value-add such tools offer. […]
Today, just a fraction of community-based palliative care programs are operated by home health providers. But the Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) and a shift away from fee-for-service Medicare will likely change that moving forward. Throughout the health care world, the term “palliative care” often carries a different meaning from one organization to the next. In […]
Brookdale Senior Living Inc. (NYSE: BKD) has performed over 100,000 COVID-19 tests across 44 states since the public health emergency began. It has been doing that while rebuilding its home health patient census, which took a substantial hit due to elective surgeries shutting down in spring. Brentwood, Tennessee-based Brookdale operates and manages more than 730 […]
Hospitals improperly coding for post-discharge services contribute to hundreds of millions of dollars in Medicare overpayments. And the majority of incorrect payments are often related to home health services. That’s according to a new audit report from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG). The purpose of the OIG […]
When it comes to acquiring home health care agencies, buyers can afford to be picky. There are more than 10,000 home health providers nationwide, but typically, only a few dozen deals close per year. Between 2011 and 2014, the market saw an annual average of 80 transactions, according to data from the investment banking company […]
Since the worst stretch of the public health emergency, LHC Group Inc. (Nasdaq: LHCG) has seen a decrease in weekly COVID-related missed visits and improved its average daily census. It has also added thousands of new physician referral sources, a win for the company considering many institutional sources are at a standstill. Those are just […]
Despite being on the front lines of care during the COVID-19 emergency, New York City caregivers often felt “invisible” and faced a higher risk of contracting the virus. That’s according to a study published Tuesday by JAMA Internal Medicine. As part of the study, researchers interviewed 33 caregivers who were employed by 24 different home […]
Humana’s (NYSE: HUM) long-standing home- and community-based focus served the insurer well in Q2 2020 — a quarter dominated by the COVID-19 emergency. The coronavirus pushed more senior care into the home, boosting business for Louisville, Kentucky-based health insurance giant. As a result, the insurer doubled down on home-based care initiatives in Q2 2020 and […]