What Home Care Leaders Think Of Kamala Harris’ Medicare Home Care Proposal

With the “sandwich generation” top of mind, Vice President and presidential candidate Kamala Harris unveiled plans for a new Medicare home-based care proposal earlier this month. The proposal would include non-medical home care services under the Medicare umbrella, aiding seniors in need of activities of daily living support. The policy – if enacted – would […]

Better Referral Source Relationships Kickstart Growth For Home-Based Care Providers

Referral sources are the lifeblood of home-based care companies. Even with payment and staffing headwinds, solid referral source relationships offer a path to sustainability for providers. At Avid Health at Home, there are a number of elements that go into its referral source strategy. The company prioritizes routine communication, and personalizing outreach. “No two referral […]

Secret Shopping And Competitive Analysis: How Home-Based Care Providers Use Their Peers To Get Ahead

Leaders at top home care companies aren’t operating their businesses in a vacuum. Instead, many are utilizing competitive analyses to stay ahead of the curb. Broadly, a competitive analysis is a benchmarking tool. “​​A lot of health care organizations use competitive analysis for benchmarking to see where they are, or how they are performing versus […]

Untangling The History, Causes Behind The Precipitous Home Health Aide Utilization Drop

In the last home health proposed rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the federal agency in charge of reimbursement rates sent out a request for information on home health aide utilization. Specifically, the agency wondered why Medicare-covered home health aide visits and utilization had fallen off a cliff over the last […]

The Bottom Line: Top Billing, Financial Mistakes Responsible For Home Health Agency Struggles

Home health providers often make mistakes that leave money on the table at best, and at worst, lead to financial ruin.  However, providers that learn to avoid these stumbling blocks will be better positioned to achieve longevity and financial stability. In general, the home health consulting firm SimiTree has noticed an increase in the amount […]

‘We Need To Go Where The Patients Are’: How Home Health Agencies Are Adjusting To Medicare Advantage

Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollment has been on a steady climb over the last two decades. As such, home health agencies have started to adjust operations to better fit the payer landscape in the future. Agencies in states like Michigan, Hawaii and Alabama have already had to do that — and those transitions haven’t been seamless. […]

How Home Health Providers Are Maintaining Positive Referral Relationships Amid Historically High Rejection Rates

With referral rejection rates skyrocketing to new highs in recent years, home health providers have to be more intentional about maintaining strong relationships with referral sources. In 2022, the industry saw a 76% referral rejection rate, compared to 54% in 2019, according to WellSky data. With this in mind, providers are employing a number of […]

‘We Will Be Paying For This For Years’: 8 Home Health C-Suite Leaders Sound Off On ‘Alarming’ Medicare Cuts

At the end of last month, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published its home health proposed payment rule for 2024. The proposal, almost immediately, drew a negative response from key home health stakeholders. The main headline was CMS’ decision to propose a home health payment decrease of 2.2%. The proposal also […]