The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI)’s new director is Brad Smith, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced Monday. Previously, Smith co-founded and worked as the CEO of the home-based palliative care provider Aspire Health before it was sold to national insurance giant Anthem in May 2018. He most recently […]
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
The post-acute care sector is still a long ways away from the implementation of a unified payment system, but the Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) may be a step in that direction. That’s according to Harvard Medical School professor David Grabowski. As a professor in the department of health care policy, Grabowski’s work is concentrated on […]
The Medicare Advantage (MA) expansions that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced this year and in early 2018 open the door to creative applications of non-medical home care services designed to proactively improve individuals’ health. The pair of new rules, with the broader of the two taking effect in 2020, have led […]
Programs for All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) organizations were given much-needed operational clarity on Tuesday, as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finally announced a new rule to update and modernize program requirements. The new rule — the first major update to the PACE program since 2006 — will likely lead to […]
Amedisys Inc. (Nasdaq: AMED) posted strong Q1 2019 financial results on Tuesday, with home health revenues buoyed by a 6% rise in same-store total volume. Despite a solid quarter, the company’s stock values were down 6.21% nearing end-of-day Wednesday, trading at $119.88 per share. Headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Amedisys held a conference call with […]
Despite consumer preferences for home-based care, relatively few senior living organizations see it as a potential growth opportunity. Meanwhile, skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) say they’re only losing a fraction of their referrals to home health providers. That’s according to a recent report from Enquire Solutions, a Greenwood Village, Colorado-based customer relationship management (CRM) and contact […]
In many ways, 2018 was a coming of age for the home care industry, as it steadily became recognized as a key part of the overall continuum of care due to its ability to keep older adults safely at home and out of the hospital. Among the biggest changes to home care in 2018: the […]
HealthSouth Corporation (NYSE: HLS) has further expanded its portfolio, acquiring the home health agency operations of CareSouth Health System, Inc. for $170 million in cash and merging them with those of Encompass Home Health, the national operator announced Monday. Along with the acquisition, the national home health, post-acute and senior living services provider CareSouth retains […]
A proposed new system for tying home health Medicare payments to quality measures is too burdensome on providers and should be streamlined, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) stated in a letter to policymakers. MedPAC advises Congress on Medicare policy and it is viewed as an influential panel of experts, although lawmakers are not obliged […]
More than 100 home health agencies are participating in the second phase of a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) initiative aimed at bundling payments to streamline care from different providers, putting themselves at financial risk by doing so. The so-called Bundled Payments for Care Improvement initiative, an approach that groups payments for multiple […]