A national coalition of organizations advocating healthcare fraud prevention called on Congress this week to implement program integrity reforms to further protect America’s seniors from fraud and abuse. Fight Fraud First! (FFF!) is an collaborative effort on behalf of seniors, persons with disabilities, military veterans and family members to advocate for the elimination of waste, […]
Category: Medicare
Home health leaders shared concerns with lawmakers Tuesday on Capitol Hill regarding the cost-sharing requirement in the Medicare home health benefit and its potential negative implications on many of the nation’s 3.5 million home health beneficiaries. The requirement could adversely affect future Medicare costs as well, says the Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare, a trade […]
The days of excessive profit margins in the home health industry may be over, writes Healthcare Market Resources in its latest market research letter, based on downtrending Medicare home health metrics between 2008 and 2011 that include revenue and visits per episode. While Medicare’s home health business seemed unaffected by federal reimbursement policies in the […]
The state of Ohio will be ramping up on background checks for home health care workers as a result of a new $2.1 million federal grant. The Ohio Governor’s Office of Health Transformation (OHT) has announced the state will use the grant to improve criminal background checks for direct-care workers in home- and community-based settings, and […]
On the heels of an announcement yesterday that nearly 100 individuals have defrauded the government for $223 million in Medicare fraud, home health leaders are calling for a more targeted approach to zero-in on suspected areas within their industry. “The government’s own data show that abusive billing practices in home health occur in isolated parts […]
The United States Senate confirmed Marilyn Tavenner as administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, announced Wednesday. “Marilyn brings with her a breadth of experience and expertise from virtually all angles of health care policy and delivery, having served as a […]
At least three home health agencies were busted in a nationwide Medicare Fraud Strike Force takedown of 89 people in eight cities for their alleged roles in submitting about $223 million in bogus charges to the taxpayer-funded program, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Department of Justice announced on Tuesday. The indictments […]
The Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare today thanked Pennsylvania lawmakers for supporting access to coordinated home-based care. The bipartisan group of Pennsylvania legislators requested that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) extend the grants provided in the Medicare Coordinated Care Demonstration (MCCD) beyond its current expiration date of June 2013. The program, which […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) began sending emails last week to notify patients of the impending Round 2 of its Competitive Bidding program. CMS also sent emails to providers of home medical equipment (HME), notifying them that the agency would also be reaching out to patients, HME Business reports. The messages describe […]
Medicare has yet to launch a concurrent care program that would pay for Medicare beneficiaries to receive joint hospice and curative treatments despite a Congressional directive issued three years ago, Kaiser Health News reports. Many beneficiaries drag their feet to enroll in a hospice program, preferring to use all available treatment options—something they must agree […]
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