A bipartisan letter from 36 U.S. Senators is calling for the Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to hold off on expanding the agency’s competitive bidding program for durable medical equipment. Led by Sens. John Thune (R-SD), Robert Casey (D-PA) and John Hoeven (R-ND), the letter urges CMS to halt the expansion of the […]
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Eligible health professionals not yet up to speed with new 2014 certified electronic health record (EHR) technology (CEHRT) will receive more time and flexibility thanks to a new proposed rule published Tuesday. The proposed rule, from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology […]
The Affordable Care Act has long-emphasized the concept of coordinated care among healthcare providers, now giving way to a new care model currently being tested where physicians follow patients throughout their hospital stay and into home-based care settings, reports Modern Healthcare via Crain’s Detroit Business. A clinical trial funded by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services […]
Hospices serving Medicare beneficiaries may see a $230 million, or 1.3%, payment increase in their reimbursements for fiscal year 2015, according to a recent proposal from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). On May 2, CMS proposed an update to the wage index and payment rates for the Medicare Hospice Benefit. The payment […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will finally begin implementing its long-heralded fingerprint-based background checks for home health providers. As part of enhanced enrollment screening provisions contained in the Affordable Care Act, CMS announced it is beginning to phase in the implementation of fingerprinting background checks—an initiative three years in the making. The […]
Following a public commenting period from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Round 2 of its Competitive Bidding program for home medical equipment (HME), a recent survey shows a majority of HME providers generally reject the program’s “one-size-fits-all” approach. In efforts to simplify the submitting of public comment, VGM Group, Inc. created […]
As many as 30 Medicare-certified home health agencies will test a care model that provides palliative support services in their routine home care offerings, in accordance with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced on March 18, 2014, the launch of the “concurrent care” demonstration under […]
Following similar actions of other state and federal agencies, home care agencies in Ohio may soon be able to see the criminal history of their employees via a fingerprinting database included in the state’s governor’s review plan, reports Cleveland.com. If passed, Governor John Kasich’s mid-biennium review plan would allow home care agencies within the state […]
The number of home health job losses escalated in February as the industry posted the largest monthly decline within the healthcare sector, according to recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). February saw 3,800 home health jobs lost during the month, the BLS data notes—a slight increase from December 2013, when the sector […]
The Obama Administration’s all-ecompassing 2015 Budget includes provisions that aims to limit Medicaid reimbursement for durable medical equipment (DME) in efforts to reduce federal spending in the coming year and beyond. One of the main provisions included in the 2015 Budget details using Medicare bid rates under the DME Competitive Bidding Program for Medicaid reimbursement, […]
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