News and Market Developments
Home Health Care News: SCAN Group Set To Combine With CareOregon To Form ‘HealthRight Group’ (12/14) - The SCAN Group and CareOregon announced that they have entered an agreement to combine under the name HealthRight Group. Together, they will become a mission-driven, nonprofit health care organization. After the deal is closed, HealthRight will also launch a diversified business unit that will be comprised of the assets from both organizations. That will be very focused on home-based care delivery.
Herald-Whig: SIU Center for Family Medicine Recognized for Home-Based Health Care Services (12/14) - SIU Center for Family Medicine has been awarded recognition by the National Committee for Quality Assurance Patient-Centered Medical Home Program. The NCQA Patient-Centered Medical Home program reflects the input of the American College of Physicians (ACP), American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and American Osteopathic Association (AOA) and others. It was developed to assess whether clinician practices are functioning as medical homes and recognize them for these efforts. The NCQA Patient-Centered Medical Home standards emphasize the use of systematic, patient-centered, coordinated care that supports access, communication and patient involvement.
Fierce Healthcare: Robot Bringing Companionship to Seniors ElliQ (12/14) - ElliQ, a voice-operated care companion for the elderly, is getting an update with 2.0 hardware and software including a companion app for family members and caregivers. The robot, called the first proactive AI care companion and a Time Best Invention of 2022, was developed to address the loneliness epidemic in older adults and has shown the ability to decrease loneliness by 80 percent. With ElliQ’s new companion app, family members, friends, caregivers, case managers or home health aids can connect with loved ones through ElliQ’s tablet. Loved ones can conduct video calls, send texts, images, video messages and set reminders.
Home Health Care News: How Large Health Systems Are Integrating Home-Based Senior Care (12/12) - Hospital systems are now making a greater effort to collaborate with senior care providers – including those in home-based care – to elevate care delivery. Key players in this larger move to work more closely with senior care providers, or to integrate that care directly, are Kaiser Permanente and Trinity Health. While home-based care always played a role in care delivery at Kaiser Permanente — one of the largest health systems and health plans in the U.S. — last year the company leaned in further by building a designated Care at Home arm. Kaiser Permanente’s Care at Home services line includes home health care, home-based palliative care, hospice care, hospital at home, lab at home, a virtual nursing center, DME and medical transportation services.
Healthcare Finance: Blue Shield of California Partnering with DispatchHealth on In-Home Care (12/12) - Blue Shield of California revealed a partnership with DispatchHealth, a company that provides in-home, same-day health care from medical professionals who treat more than 40 health conditions, including respiratory infections, pneumonia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). With the collaboration, members now have access inside their own homes to additional medical care services for a range of illnesses and injuries.
Insider Intelligence: Digital Health Trends to Watch for 2023 (12/12) - Insurers and retailers are now buying home health companies to expand into in-home care. Remote patient monitoring (RPM) and at-home diagnostic tests are helping to boost these efforts. Up to $265 billion in care services for traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage (MA) beneficiaries could migrate from traditional facilities to the home by 2025, per McKinsey & Company.
McKnights Senior Living: Potential National Provider Directory Draws Support (12/12) - Long-term care provider groups generally support a potential National Directory of Healthcare Providers and Services — with some caveats, according to comments recently provided to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Nicole Fallon, LeadingAge vice president of health policy and integrated services and director of the association’s Center for Managed Care Solutions and Innovations, said that the need for a national directory is important for providers of long-term care supports and services, home- and community-based services, post-acute care services and home health. The effort would ease efforts related to data reporting and maintenance, streamline processes and reduce the cost of resources to keep up with federal and state data requirements, as well as those from Medicare and Medicaid managed care organizations.
Modern Healthcare: What Policies Three CEOs Say They Want to Drive Health Innovation (12/12) - An increasing number of health systems are seeking to shift care delivery to home and outpatient care. But regulatory and policy changes are necessary to help enable those changes—and to address ongoing challenges facing the industry, including reimbursement and surprise billing. In the second part of a two-part series, Modern Healthcare asked the CEOs of Nashville, Tennessee-based Ardent Health Services; Marlton, New Jersey-based Virtua Health; and Rapid City, South Dakota-based Monument Health to share their policy wish lists and plans for spending on projects beyond brick-and-mortar facilities.
McKnights Home Care: Industry Seeks Delay of Home Health Cut in Funding Bill (12/12) - Home care providers are pushing for an end-of-the-year government funding package to include legislation that would postpone the 2023 home health cut of 3.925 percent for one year and require the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to offer transparency in its rate setting going forward. “All eyes at this point are on the funding package to fund the government through the remainder of the fiscal year,” Calvin McDaniel, director of government affairs for the National Association for Home Care & Hospice, said in a NAHC congressional advocacy webinar.
Home Health Care News: Amid Shift To Value, Providers Caution Against Telehealth (12/9) - In order to stay ahead of the needs of consumers and payers, post-acute care leaders — including those in home-based care — are looking to innovate how care and services are delivered to seniors. Michael Bailey, CEO of American Health Partners, believes that the current reimbursement market isn’t designed to incentivize home-based care on a continual basis. With this in mind, he stressed the importance of working with payer partners.
Home Health Care News: How ConnectRN is Assisting Home Health Providers Solve The Staffing Shortage (12/8) - The marketplace for home health providers has become more complex as providers not only have to find and serve patients, but find and convince clinicians to work for them. To do that, staffing companies like connectRN are helping home health providers navigate these new challenges. What started as a platform built to find nurses and other health care professionals work, particularly in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), has now grown into a much larger platform with a vested interest in home-based care.
Forbes: How Remote Primary Care Can Close the Home Health Care Delivery Gap (12/8) - Virtual care has made strides toward public adoption, accelerated by COVID-19 when remote care suddenly became an attractive, and sometimes the only, option for receiving care in the most convenient, desirable location – the home. But while virtual care technology exists and is widely known, there is a major delivery gap between how virtual health care is being deployed and utilized in the home and how it should be used to help health care organizations meet their goals of reducing the cost of care while delivering the best possible care for patients. Health plans and providers should look for solutions that enable them to facilitate comparable care to in-person care.
Home Health Care News: What Makes Home Health Provider-Payer Relationships Work (12/7) - Amid the ongoing shift toward value-based care — and away from fee-for-service payment models — providers in senior care are still navigating in the dark, especially when it comes to working with payers and other third-party stakeholders. LHC Group, like Amedisys Inc., Enhabit Inc. and other top home health players, are trying to turn these relationships into ones that are worthwhile from a financial perspective. Perhaps no entity has a better perspective on this than Helion, the somewhat new home- and community-based services division of Highmark Health. Highmark is a payer-provider hybrid, and Helion has created a network of home health providers in value-based arrangements with it.
McKnights Home Care: Home Health Rule Could Continue to Negatively Affect Dealmaking (12/6) - Continued uncertainty over Medicare’s final home health rule could tie up deals in the segment for months, according to Enhabit Home Health & Hospice executives. Legislation delaying a $635 million in behavioral health cut in 2023 is now before Congress and garnering wide bipartisan support, Enhabit CEO Barbara Jacobsmeyer told investors during a Bank of America Home Care Conference. Although Enhabit completed the acquisition last week of Southwest Florida Home Care in Ft. Meyers, the executives said they are now primarily focused on hospice, as opposed to home health acquisitions.
Managed Healthcare Executive: As Home-Based Supplemental Benefits Explode, Health Plans Embrace Digital Tools to Improve Access to Services (12/5) - Medicare Advantage (MA) is on track to become a major payer for nonmedical home-based benefits. As care continues to move into the home and community, the trend toward benefits that address social determinants of health (SDOH) will continue. The payer industry is acknowledging what home care providers have long known: It is possible to reduce costs and improve the quality of care by offering wraparound non-medical benefits such as transportation, durable medical equipment, nutrition services and in-home support. As more in-home care benefits are offered, the importance of making sure those services are easily accessible will become a measure of quality — and Star ratings. When done right, investing in the technology to manage and coordinate supplemental services can lead to more healthy days at home, higher member satisfaction and, ultimately, higher rates of retention.
Home Health Care News: As Costs Of Private-Pay Services Rise, 24 Hour Home Care Acquires Medicaid-Based Home Care Provider (12/5) - 24 Hour Home Care has acquired the New Mexico-based home care company Inteli-Care, which will allow the former to broaden the types of patients it can care for. 24 Hour Home Care is a mission-driven organization that wants to serve as many people as possible in the home. Acquiring Inteli-Care – which focuses on the Medicaid population in New Mexico – will allow it to do so. The Los Angeles-based 24 Hour Home Care offers home care and intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) services across California and Arizona. Inteli-Care will allow 24 Hour Home Care to serve patients in yet another state, adding 500 clients to its overall network.
State AARP: Family Caregivers Need Support (12/5) - In Michigan and across the country, AARP is fighting to support family caregivers and the loved ones they care for. Every day, 1.32 million Michiganders help their parents, spouses, siblings, grandparents, neighbors, and other loved ones to live independently at home – where they want to be. At the federal level and here in Michigan, AARP will continue fighting to make providing care easier for family caregivers through better access to resources; training, education and inclusion in care; and more support at home among others.
BizJournals: In-Home Care Startup HelloCare Elevates Caregiver Support (12/5) - HelloCare, an in-home care service, is for those who need extra help or medical care but want to remain in their homes. Clients range from young people experiencing illness to seniors who want to age in place. A key element of HelloCare is taking care of its care givers, including certified nursing assistants and unlicensed workers. HelloCare looks to elevate care giving, which is typically an undervalued role in the economy.Patients can pay directly or through long term care insurance, VA insurance or Providence ElderPlace. Medicare does not pay for in-home care.
American Medical Association (AMA): Providing Hospital Level Care at Home (12/5) - In this AMA Update, Narayana Murali, MD, system chief medical officer of medicine services at Geisinger Health, discusses providing hospital level care in patients' homes. Dr. Murali is also chair of the AMA’s Integrated Physician Practice Section (IPPS).
Practice Advisor: How To Advise Clients on Long-Term Care Options (12/4) - Home is where most people want to be, especially since the pandemic began, but home health care can also cost well over $100,000 per year. Relatively few people may have a plan to protect their savings from the cost of an extended illness or degenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s Disease or dementia. With a plan in place, patients are better able to preserve their assets, standard of living and independence.
Inside Telehealth: Hospital At Home Telehealth Waiver Expected In Year-End Package (12/2) - Acute hospital care at home telehealth flexibilities are likely to make it into the expected year-end bill, according to three telehealth lobbyists, as lawmakers reach the final stretch of negotiations over what health riders to tuck into the massive funding package. The Democratic-led Senate Finance Committee is leading the charge to include the hospital at home telehealth provision, according to lobbyists. There is extra urgency for hospital at home waivers to make it into the year-end bill because the flexibilities were not in the 151-day post-PHE extension of other telehealth waivers.
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