Lawmakers are pushing yet another piece of new legislation that would make it easier for patients to gain access to home health care, specifically by widening the scope of who can certify the need for home health services under Medicare rules. A bipartisan group of representatives introduced the Home Health Care Planning Improvement Act of […]
Category: Home Health Care
Despite expectations that home health admissions in the U.S. would drop in Q3 2018, both home health admissions and utilization continued to increase slightly quarter-over-quarter. Meanwhile, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) data shows hospice utilization rose to record-breaking levels in the third quarter of 2018, while hospice admission growth declined slightly. The findings […]
So far, April has already seen two home health industry officials sentenced to a combined 15 years of prison time for their roles in multi-million scams, plus a conviction in the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) biggest health care fraud scheme ever. On April 4, DOJ announced the former director of nursing and administration of […]
HomeCare.com alum joins LifeMatters Silver Spring, Maryland-based home care provider LifeMatters has hired a new COO. Daniel Gold comes to the position after serving as executive vice president and COO of HomeCare.com, which offers tools and technologies to connect families and caregivers. Gold has worked in different capacities within the post-acute care since the early […]
Although a fairly common practice in the senior housing and skilled nursing worlds, home health providers as a group have largely avoided bankruptcy proceedings, partly thanks to a steady reimbursement landscape and increasing demand for services by older Americans hoping to age in place. If history serves as any guide, that’s likely to change under […]
Amazon’s Alexa now boasts HIPAA-compliant skills, a development that could create new opportunities for home-based care companies and the senior clients they serve. Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) launched Alexa’s secure medical skill kit Thursday. Through the new kit, select entities are allowed to build Alexa skills that securely send and receive protected patient health information. So […]
The Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) will shake up how and when home health providers are reimbursed compared to the current Medicare model, which has been in place since 2000. Among PDGM’s changes, for example, functional status and the OASIS M1800s section will matter significantly more. That’s a major change for home health providers, who are […]
In recent years and months, rising minimum wage has been top of mind for home-based care providers, adding another level of difficulty to attracting and retaining workers. But fair scheduling legislation that’s gaining steam in cities and states across the country could soon take center stage — and potentially make matters worse. Fair scheduling legislation […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has picked an official start date for its Review Choice Demonstration (RCD), an initiative meant to curb improper billing among home health providers. On Wednesday, CMS announced RCD will begin in Illinois on June 1. For home health providers operating in Illinois, that means all episodes of […]
One of the largest health systems in the country is betting big on its ongoing strategy to provide more care upstream. In March, Intermountain Healthcare announced it is expanding its home-based offerings in 2019 to include primary care and multiple hospital-level services, along with palliative care for patients with chronic or serious medical conditions. The […]
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