Due to the nature of the job, home-based care workers face the risk of experiencing workplace violence. It’s paramount for providers to enact measures that will protect these workers and avoid liability for negligence, legal experts caution. Workplace violence is defined as an act or threat of violence. This ranges from verbal abuse to physical […]
Category: Regulation
The proliferation of hospital-at-home models has been one of the major home-based care trends during the COVID-19 crisis, and players on all sides are bullish that that trend will continue after the pandemic subsides. The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) “Acute Hospital Care At Home” waiver program has allowed more health systems […]
With more eyes than ever on the home care industry, experts are trying to read the tea leaves to determine if greater standardization will eventually follow. Once considered the “youngest kid” in the larger health care continuum, home care has been ushered into the spotlight over the past couple of years. A few things have […]
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced Friday that it is releasing another $25.5 billion under the Provider Relief Fund (PRF). Since a first round of $46 billion was sent to over 320,000 Medicare providers in April 2020, HHS has released tens of billions of follow-on dollars through a mix of general […]
The U.S. Senate on Thursday narrowly confirmed California Attorney General Xavier Becerra as the next secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). It did so by a 50-49 margin, with the vote playing out almost entirely along party lines. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine was the only Republican who voted to confirm […]
Despite the once-in-a-generation COVID-19 pandemic, the home health industry’s transition to the Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) was pretty seamless. Looking into the not-too-distant future, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will now likely attempt to make modest tweaks to a handful of key areas, payment experts believe. The agency will do so […]
President Joe Biden focused on the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic during his first full day in office Thursday. In doing so, he once again drew attention to home-based care and getting the current “workforce crisis” under control. “Our national strategy is comprehensive,” Biden said during an address from the White House. “It’s based on science, not […]
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued an opinion letter allowing home care agencies to implement consistent shift rates that include pre-payment of overtime for caregivers who provide live-in services. In this case, a “live-in shift” is defined as being on the job for 24 hours or more at a time. Broadly, the DOL’s […]
Wage-and-hour litigation, confusing state-level regulations and an increase in federal audits were among the biggest legal trends of 2020. While many of these issues will remain in the year ahead, 2021 will also bring several more legal hurdles for home-based care providers. The decision of whether to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for home health and home […]
In late November, the aging-focused advocacy organization LeadingAge wrote a note to Congress, calling for relief on behalf of the 5,500 adult day service providers across the country and the vulnerable patients they serve. “Adult day services providers across the country urgently need dedicated federal funding to ensure they are able to continue providing services […]
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