The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) is launching a study to determine whether the Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) accurately aligns home health payments with patient care costs. The study, which will analyze data on home health and skilled nursing facility (SNF) payments, will examine patient selection and coding practices that could inflate payments without corresponding […]
Team Select Home Care bet $6 million on an unproven concept: that proprietary predictive AI, trained on more than a decade of patient records, could catch subtle clinical decline and keep medically fragile patients out of the hospital. Now, the provider is reporting measurable results — and using them to reshape how it negotiates with […]
Always Best Care Senior Services names new chief financial officer Always Best Care Senior Services has appointed Jason Shontz as its CFO. Shontz most recently served as vice president of finance for The Joint Corp (Nasdaq: JYNT), a chiropractic franchisor. He is charged with fostering sustainable franchise growth while prioritizing franchisee financial health. […]
The home health industry has long organized its business model around episodic, clinician-driven visits, but that traditional framework may struggle to solve a mounting chronic disease crisis, according to industry veteran Paul Kusserow. The industry must evolve beyond a traditional, visit-based clinical model into one that mixes skilled care with family caregiver support, technology and […]
DAI closes on HCA Healthcare deal Deaconess Associations Incorporated (DAI) has closed on its acquisition of 24 home health locations and seven hospice locations from HCA Healthcare. The new agencies, which span eight states, have joined Central Pyramid, one of DAI’s four owned subsidiaries. DAI CEO Trey Crabb previously told Home Health Care News […]
Delivering clinical care inside a patient’s home brings challenges not seen in facility-based care, such as crowded countertops, poor lighting or vermin infestations. A new study from the American Journal of Infection Control found that clutter in the home and other hazards can impede home-based infection control and prevention. Home-based care providers may need to […]
Providers of aging services, including home-based care, have had to adapt to patient trends like higher acuity levels, growing regulatory complexity and ramping need for data and operational sophistication. They are also adapting to new expectations and needs for services. Two service lines that have now become table stakes for providers are behavioral healthcare and […]
The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) proposal to add palliative care as a billable service under the Medicare Home Health Benefit could expand home health agencies to develop relationships with different types of providers. However, adding palliative care as a billable service could also make it difficult for home health providers to […]
Reps. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., and John Moolenaar, R-Mich., have introduced a bill to strengthen the Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) and allow PACE providers to expand access to in-home care. The legislation, called the PACE Access Improvement Act and introduced on Sept. 24, would make PACE a mandatory Medicaid service and ease […]
Home-based care providers are increasingly earning a seat at the table for care-pathway transitions, including whether an inpatient hospital stay is truly necessary before a patient moves to a skilled nursing facility (SNF). Some payers require a two-day hospital stay before authorizing a transition from home to a SNF. But SCAN Health Plan is cutting […]
