A Third of Americans Rely on the Unregulated ‘Gray Market’ for Senior Care

Nearly a third of Americans who pay for senior care hire workers that aren’t tied to a regulated agency, a new study from RAND Corporation suggests. Instead, these individuals hire or use workers from the “gray market,” or the unregulated market of under-the-table labor. For professional home-based care agencies, the findings suggest there’s a huge, […]

Transportation Challenges, Internet Access Limit Home Health Care in Rural Areas

Despite the efforts of state and federal policymakers trying to encourage the use of home- and community-based services (HCBS) over the past several decades, patients in rural areas still face more challenges gaining access to those kinds of supports compared to their urban counterparts. That’s according to a new study published this month in the […]

CMS Awards $5.5M to Develop Palliative Care Quality Measures

The American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM), in partnership with the National Coalition for Hospice and Palliative Care and the RAND Corporation, has been awarded a three-year $5.5 million grant from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to develop patient-reported quality measures for community-based palliative care. Filling the gaps in quality measurement of palliative care is […]

CMS Struggles to Find Participants in Home Health Data Beta Test

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is in the midst of a multi-year process to develop new data collection requirements—and the agency still needs home health care agencies in multiple areas around the country to weigh in. CMS and the RAND Corporation last month kicked off the second phase of a program to […]

One House Call Has Big Aging-in-Place Payoff

When it comes to helping seniors age in their own home, an in-home assessment from a physician or nurse practitioner goes a long way. Between 2008 and 2012, Medicare recipients enrolled in a house calls program had 14% fewer hospital admissions during the year after they initially were evaluated, compared with Medicare beneficiaries in a […]