Individual and clinical characteristics of home health patients continue to shift, reflective of both America’s aging population and providers’ ability to handle more acute cases. That’s according to the latest Home Health Chartbook, an annual overview of the home health landscape put together by the Alliance for Home Health Quality and Innovation and Avalere Health. […]
Avalere Health
The home health industry continues to carve out a bigger role in the overall U.S. economy, with agencies creating more jobs and paying more in wages than ever before. Overall, home health agencies created more than 2.22 million jobs in 2019, employing more than 1.51 million workers in the process. That workforce took home more […]
At the height of the COVID-19 emergency, in-patient hospital volumes fell, with skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and home health providers experiencing similar downturns. While home health providers began to see a turnaround in June, the same can’t be said for SNFs. That’s according to a recent Avalere Health study examining discharge destinations recorded on in-patient […]
Earlier in June, the Trump administration and the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) touted a “renewed national commitment to value-based care.” But for that renewed commitment to take off in the home health care space, government officials need to act fast, industry insiders caution. There’s a widening value-based care gap between larger […]
Home-based care providers are finally getting the attention they deserve for doing what they do best: safely caring for seniors in their homes while cutting health care costs in the process. COVID-19 has elevated home-based care’s impact to the national stage, with skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and hospitals leaning on providers to care for more […]
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced Wednesday that over $40 billion in additional funding would be provided to reimburse health care providers during the COVID-19 crisis. A chunk of that money will go to further support home health agencies. To distribute the $40 billion, HHS plans to allocate $20 billion for […]
For the past several weeks, home health providers throughout the country have been preparing their operations for an impending surge of COVID-19 patients. Many — including the Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY) — have already found themselves on the front lines. If the coronavirus continues to spread at the current rate, some home […]
Prior to the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, the Medicare Advantage (MA) landscape looked like a promising business opportunity for in-home care providers. That was, in part, thanks to two major expansions of MA supplemental benefits in 2018 and 2019. But the U.S. is now more than a month removed from a coronavirus public health […]
There’s a flood of changes surging toward the U.S. home health care industry. But thanks to widespread recognition, improved quality and staunch advocacy efforts, providers have never been standing on higher ground. That was the key message delivered by the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) leadership Sunday during the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit […]
Despite providers often touting their success in keeping older adults at home and out of the hospital, average readmission rates for the home health industry remained relatively flat from 2017 to 2018. That’s according to the latest Home Health Chartbook, a comprehensive analysis of the post-acute care industry and home health sub-sector compiled by Avalere […]