The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its CY 2027 home health final payment rule on Wednesday. CMS estimates that the final rule will increase aggregate Medicare payments to home health agencies by 2.4% compared to calendar year 2026, in line with the increase that CMS proposed in July. The rate bump is […]
CMS
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is moving to expand the Medicare home health Review Choice Demonstration (RCD) to California, citing fraud concerns. RCD is currently in place in Illinois, Ohio, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Florida and Texas. CMS filed a notice on Friday requesting expedited approval from the Office of Management and Budget […]
The moratorium on Medicare home health enrollment has blocked 250 agencies that applied from gaining approval, according to Kim Brandt, the deputy administrator and chief operating officer of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The moratorium on hospice enrollment, meanwhile, has blocked 50 hospices from enrolling, she added, saying that she was surprised […]
As part of an updated push to coordinate federal action to strengthen dementia care and research, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) plans to improve access to home and community-based services for people with dementia. Specifically, HHS announced an update to the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias. […]
Last week, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) introduced a bill that would reset the home health base payment rate and give the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) new fraud-fighting tools. The bill serves as a microcosm of how lawmakers appear to view the home health industry: with equal parts support and suspicion. It’s a […]
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) has introduced a bill that, if enacted, would give the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) additional tools to prevent and detect home health fraud and reset the Medicare home health payment rate to levels seen before years of payment cuts. The bill, called the Medicare Home Health Payment Integrity […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has expanded the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR) Model, which aims to encourage collaboration among health care entities — including home health providers. Most hospitals will be required to participate in the CJR Expanded (CJR-X) model beginning in January 2028. “CJR-X gives more patients the opportunity […]
When I started covering home-based care, I did not anticipate that the industry would become a flashpoint in partisan politics, beyond familiar debates about reimbursement rates and the finer points of regulations. So, I’ve been surprised — and disturbed — by developments this year. The latest came this week: the U.S. Centers for Medicare & […]
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that the agencies deferred over $1 billion in Medicaid payments for certain high-risk Medicaid claims in two states, including home-based services. HHS and CMS deferred $867.5 million in federal Medicaid payments to California and […]
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued updated survey guidance on home health agencies’ acceptance-to-service policies, a new standard under the Home Health Agency Conditions of Participation that took effect in Jan. 2025. The agency issued the guidance to home health agencies in a Wednesday memo, clarifying requirements to develop, implement and […]
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