“Social environment factors” play a big role in whether a senior who’s receiving home health care following a hospital discharge is likely to be readmitted within 60 days, finds a study published in Advances in Nursing Science. Those factors can include the patient’s living situation and the amount of care provided by a family member […]

More Medicare beneficiaries will be eligible for at-home care covered by the entitlement program under a proposed settlement, reports USA Today. The settlement relates to whether beneficiaries who cannot prove their medical conditions will improve can still get coverage for skilled nursing and therapy services. A proposed Medicare settlement that allows more patients to receive […]

Medicare reimbursements to home health agencies will essentially remain flat in calendar year 2013, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).  Payments to home health agencies are estimated to decrease by approximately 0.01%, or $10 million, in the upcoming year, says the final rule updating Medicare’s Home Health Prospective Payment System (HH […]

Home health care providers in Pennsylvania are getting squeezed as Medicare reimbursements for home health services have been scaled back and the possibility of further cuts looms on multiple horizons, reports The Morning Call. Under the Affordable Care Act, Medicare is facing a $716 billion spending cut in the next 10 years, and providers in […]

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) needs to put into effect a rule it made more than a decade ago requiring home health agencies to obtain surety bonds as a mechanism to protect Medicare from overpayments, says the Office of the Inspector General (OIG).  It’s been 15 years since CMS first promulgated the […]