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, […]
National home health spending soared to new heights in 2018, a fact that strongly reflects the ongoing shift toward home- and community-based care and away from hospitals, skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and other institutional settings. Overall, U.S. home health spending officially hit $102.2 billion in 2018, according to a new analysis from the Centers for […]
The Medicare fee-for-service improper payment rate has fallen once again, thanks largely to the cleaner paperwork and ongoing compliance efforts of U.S. home health providers. Despite clear and steady progress in bringing improper payment rates down, though, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is unlikely to relax its oversight anytime soon, industry leaders […]
LHC Group Inc. (Nasdaq: LHCG) — one of the two largest, independent home health, hospice and personal care companies in the U.S. — has hit a major milestone in its 25-year history. The Lafayette, Louisiana-based company officially crossed the 100,000-patient mark. In addition to being a personal achievement for Chairman and CEO Keith Myers — whose […]
The Medicare Advantage boom for home care is almost here. Ever since the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) first expanded the scope of Medicare Advantage (MA) supplemental benefits in April 2018, at-home care providers have been trying to figure out they fit into a potentially new reimbursement puzzle. At least initially, it appeared […]
There’s a political food fight brewing in the nation’s capital, health care policy insiders told Home Health Care News. And a possible overhaul to the entire post-acute care (PAC) sector is to blame. “One of the things I’m hearing out of Washington is that there are some stakeholders in the post-acute care space interested in […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Thursday finalized the Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) for 2020, in addition to its plan to phase out home health pre-payments and introduce a new home infusion therapy benefit. But perhaps the biggest news for U.S. home health providers is a major update to PDGM’s widely opposed […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) shouldn’t risk home health industry destabilization while pushing through its proposed version of the Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM), especially when it comes to the overhaul’s looming 8.01% behavioral adjustment. That’s according to Encompass Health Corporation (NYSE: EHC) President and CEO Mark Tarr, who discussed PDGM and his […]
Home health providers looking to bet the farm that the Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) goes through in its current form should be warry, industry executives say. Although it’s important to adjust to the upcoming payment overhaul, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has a history of changing its tune after regulatory actions trigger […]