Home Health and SNFs Should Lean On, Learn From Each Other

Despite the competition that often exists between home health care agencies and skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), the industries have more similarities than differences. As such, they should be leaning on and learning from each other, experts say.  “I know that home health is struggling in a lot of ways — there are a lot of […]

CMS’s Proposal to Eliminate RAPs, Increase PDGM’s Behavioral Adjustment ‘Death by 1,000 Cuts’

Home health operators and industry advocates are voicing their concerns following a proposal from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to eliminate home health pre-payments and move forward with behavioral assumptions under the Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM). Specifically, many worry the proposed changes will create cash flow problems for home health agencies, which […]

Report: In-Home Caregivers Undervalued in Team-Based Care Models

Despite providing the majority of paid hands-on care in the home, home health, home care and personal care aides are often underutilized and undervalued when it comes to team-based home care initiatives. That’s according to a recent report published in Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. Put together by researchers from the Washington, D.C.-based advocacy […]

Payment Overhauls to Bring SNFs, Home Health Providers Closer Together

Similar to home health providers facing the Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM), skilled nursing facility (SNF) operators are months away from a major payment overhaul themselves. Effective beginning Oct. 1, the Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM) should trigger more collaboration between the SNF and home health worlds — at least in theory. Understandably, the two complex models […]

LHC Group, Home Instead, LeadingAge Share Top Tech Strategies

Earlier this month, a White House task force released a sprawling report encouraging aging services stakeholders to adopt technology designed to help older adults with activities of daily living, social connectedness and a handful of other key needs. While the report stands as a call to action, home-based care providers and advocates are quick to […]

Older Baby Boomers Favor Staffed Settings to Aging in Place When Mental Health Deteriorates

Despite home-based care providers’ efforts to implement specialized care programs for individuals living with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, the majority of older baby boomers say they would rather move to a place that’s staffed 24/7 than stay home if their memory and brain health deteriorated. What’s more, another large portion of older baby […]

Trump Administration Calls for Medicaid Overhaul, $846 Billion in Medicare Cuts

The Trump administration on Monday released its proposed budget for fiscal year 2020, calling for government-wide domestic spending cuts of 5%, a site-neutral payment system for health care providers and a major Medicaid overhaul. The proposed budget — unlikely to make it past a democrat-controlled House of Representatives — also seeks to curb Medicare spending […]

LeadingAge, VNAA and ElevatingHome Pursue Affiliation

Long-term care association LeadingAge — behind only AARP and, perhaps, a handful of other organizations when it comes to tackling aging issues in the United States — may soon become an even bigger player in the home-based care arena. Washington, D.C.-based LeadingAge unveiled plans in February to join forces with the Visiting Nurse Associations of […]

Lawmakers Push to Keep Seniors at Home with Newly Introduced Bills

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers has introduced two new pieces of legislation aimed at making it easier — and more financially secure — for seniors and individuals with disabilities to receive care at home. The move is yet another recent example of the high-priority position home-based care has developed on Capitol Hill as America’s […]