Federal health care policymakers have introduced a new proposed rule that would extend the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR) bundled-payment model for an additional three years. The proposed rule, released last Thursday, would also expand CJR’s reach to outpatient procedures. Currently, CJR — an area many home health providers have gotten involved with — […]
CMS
The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced last month that Home Health Compare — its consumer-facing database of home health provider quality information — will soon be incorporated with seven other Compare sites to create a larger tool named “Medicare Care Compare.” The goal is to consolidate and make the Compare tool […]
Therapy layoffs, conversions to part-time status and general service reductions are beginning to ramp up in the home health space, multiple professional association groups told Home Health Care News. So much so, in fact, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) may be preparing to speak up. The current shift in how and […]
Earlier this month, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a first-of-its-kind report on social determinants of health (SDoH) among Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) beneficiaries. Home health providers have increasingly turned their attention to SDoH and whole-person care, especially as hospitals and health systems recognize the value of nutrition, transportation and socialization support […]
Thanks to leadership changes at the federal level, the evolution of Medicare Advantage (MA) and a seemingly constant flow of new value-based payment models, providers should begin to plan for the end of fee-for-service Medicare. That’s according to LHC Group Inc. (Nasdaq: LHCG) Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer Bruce Greenstein, who discussed the future of […]
President Donald Trump has opened the door to possible Medicare cuts, an alarming scenario for U.S. home health providers already facing a major reimbursement overhaul and increased compliance pressure from federal watchdogs. Speaking during an interview with CNBC while attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump suggested that he would consider cuts to […]
The latest ACO numbers from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) are in — and home health providers should be paying attention. More than two years ago, the Trump administration made major changes to the Medicare Shared Savings Program for accountable care organizations (ACOs), arguably the biggest value-based payment program in fee-for-service Medicare. […]
In all likelihood, 2019 will go down as one of the most important years in Medicare-certified home health care history. While many industry-shaping changes didn’t officially begin last year, 2019 did set the stage for several new regulatory and business trends in 2020. Almost all of those trends are somehow linked to the Patient-Driven Groupings […]
No shockers here: The Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) was the big story in 2019. The most widely read Home Health Care News story from the past year was a PDGM-focused conversation between the leaders of Amedisys Inc. (Nasdaq: AMED), LHC Group Inc. (Nasdaq: LHCG) and Encompass Health’s (NYSE: EHC) home health division. Now just days […]
If a home health history textbook comes out, 2019 will be a chapter of change. The Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) dominated most news cycles, but a series of similarly key regulatory initiatives also played out — and who knows what the rest of December has in store. As the end of the year draws closer, […]