The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a final rule Thursday that will enact changes to the Medicare home health prospective payment system (HH PPS) for calendar year 2015, which the agency projects would reduce Medicare payments to home health agencies by .30%, or $60 million. “[The rule] will foster greater efficiency, flexibility, […]
Category: Home Health Care
Benjamin Breier, president and chief operating officer of Kindred Healthcare (NYSE: KND), will take over next year as CEO of the national post-acute and rehabilitation services provider, the company announced Thursday. Breier, 43 — who has been with Kindred since 2005, starting as president of the company’s rehabilitation division — will replace current CEO Paul […]
Anchorage, Alaska-based federal contractor Chenega Corporation has purchased AQTS Home Health in San Antonio to expand into the commercial home health care market, the San Antonio Business Journal reports. The purchase price was not disclosed. AQTS Home Health, part of the Access Quality family of companies, has 75 full-time employees in San Antonio that provide nursing, occupational […]
The debate over minimum wage in the home health care industry continues, as the most recent critics prove to be an unlikely group to criticize the movement: disability rights advocates, Bloomberg BusinessWeek reports. The article follows the Department of Labor’s decision earlier this month to delay enforcement of its new rule extending minimum wage and […]
The founder of three Detroit-area home health agencies has pleaded guilty in federal court for his role in a $22 million home health care fraud scheme involving kickbacks, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced this week. Tayyab Aziz, 45, of Homer Glen, Ill., pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of Michigan to one count […]
Following a statewide campaign to raise the minimum wage, the Missouri Home Care Union announced Monday it had reached a deal with state negotiators to raise the wage for its home health workers. The collective bargaining agreement set home health care attendants’ wage between $8.50 and $10.15 an hour, less than the $11 proposed minimum […]
A law that exists in three states today to allow terminally ill patents the right to try investigational medicines was adopted in Michigan this week, making it the fourth state to allow this right. The “Right To Try Act,” was passed by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder late last week. It allows terminally ill patients to […]
A new study of Florida middle-schoolers finds that children who are acting as caregivers at home spend nearly two hours each weekday assisting older adult family members, The Washington Post reports. These young caregivers — 62% of whom are girls and 38% of whom are boys — assist family members suffering from diseases or age-related […]
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved two telehealth apps from electronics company Philips that seek to ease the transition from hospital to home care, the company announced earlier this month. The eCareCoordinator and eCareCompanion apps, part of Philips Hospital to Home’s suite of telehealth programs, focus on reducing readmissions to the hospital by providing […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has extended the period of time hospices can hire contract nurses as long as they qualify for an “extraordinary circumstance” exemption, the agency announced in a memorandum recently. Under normal circumstances, a hospice must ensure that all core services — including nursing — are provided directly by […]
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