New Obamacare Repeal and Replace Could Hit Home Health Hard

Efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are back after several months of no action, and the latest health care reform legislation could have an impact on the home health care industry if it prevails. The bill, which is being called the Graham-Cassidy bill after two of its sponsors, Sens. Lindsey Graham […]

New Draft of Health Care Bill Maintains Medicaid Cuts

Republicans unveiled a new version of their health care bill in the Senate on Thursday. Several major amendments have been made to the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA), but the bill still contains deep cuts to Medicaid funding over the next decade. Medicaid Funding Worries The biggest uproar about the Republican plan has originated from its deep cuts to […]

Feds Conduct Largest Ever Health Care Fraud Crackdown

July marked the largest health care fraud takedown in history, as the Department of Health and Humans Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) charged individuals in multiple schemes involving $1.3 billion in false billings to Medicare and Medicaid. More than 400 individuals were charged in 41 federal districts in July for allegedly participating in false billings […]

Weekly Jump-Start: The Republican Health Care Plan

Good day, Home Health Care readers, and welcome back from your Independence Day holiday. If you had a long weekend, like us, catch up on all things home health and home care with our weekly jump-start. Last week, we took a deep dive into the Republican health care bill in the Senate, the Better Care […]

Senate Health Care Bill Pulls Back Medicaid Spending

Senate Republicans released a “discussion draft” of their health care bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), informally known as Obamacare. The bill, while similar in the House version passed in May, goes even further in its cuts to Medicaid funding—and potential impacts to home heath care. “The Senate bill—once promised as […]

In-Home Care Workforce Not Meeting Growing Demand

The number of direct care workers is insufficiently growing to meet the demands of seniors and adults with disabilities living at home. That’s according to a new “State Scorecard” report from AARP, the SCAN Foundation and Commonwealth Fund, which examined the factors that determine long-term care for seniors and people with disabilities. AARP released similar reports […]

Trumpcare Passage, Medicaid Changes in Sight

While the nation stood transfixed by former FBI director James Comey’s testimony before the Senate, that same body moved closer to putting forth a Trumpcare bill—potentially signaling major changes to the way home health companies receive Medicaid payments. The under-the-radar movement was enough to prompt one Washington insider, speaking before a health care conference in […]

Judge: Illinois Medicaid Payments Must Be Made Faster

There may be some relief in sight for in-home care providers waiting on Medicaid payments in the state of Illinois, thanks to a federal judgment ordering the state’s comptroller to pay reimbursements faster. The Prairie State has had an ongoing budget crisis, without a formal budget in place, for two years. Some in-home care providers […]

Managed Care Programs Improve Care, Reduce Costs

Managed long-term services and support programs (MLTSS) bring a host of benefits to states, including better care outcomes and reduced spending, and could shift more patients away from institutions to in-home or community programs, according to a new survey. The National Association of States United for Aging and Disabilities’ (NASUAD) MLTSS Institute sent surveys to […]

Monday Briefing: Medicaid Criteria Pushed Back Three Years

Welcome back to the Home Health Care News Monday Briefing. Catch up on the latest industry with our top stories from last week and see what caught our eye around the web. Start your week with this New York Times article that focused on a study about “daughter care”—the essential role that daughters play in […]