News and Market Developments
Stat News: After Loved Ones' Long-Awaited Organ Transplants, Caregivers Often Find Challenges Are Just Beginning (1/4) - After organ transplants, caregivers find themselves on a lifelong journey. It is a lonely journey, marked by a profound lack of support for the people helping loved ones through the long process of recovering and adjusting to the complexities of managing post-transplant health. At a minimum, this involves routine check-ups; keeping up with medications, including anti-rejection drugs that can lead to severe long-term side effects; and staying on constant high alert because transplant patients have particular needs when it comes to diet, lifestyle, and medications.
Medical Economics: What The Rise of Home-Based Care Means for Primary Care Physicians (1/2) - The health care landscape is undergoing a significant transition, centered around the home. Driven by value-based care, patient-centeredness, and an aging population, a powerful alliance is emerging between primary care physicians (PCPs) and home health agencies. This evolution focuses on collaboration, integration, and closing gaps that leave patients vulnerable. Large payers are recognizing the potential of this integrated approach, with some even employing physicians in their network of home health providers. This opens doors for specialized care, like palliative services, directly in the home.
Best Buy: A Year in Review (12/27) - Best Buy Health in 2023 continued to make exciting progress, making waves with a series of groundbreaking announcements that promise to accomplish our goal of enabling care in the home for everyone. This year, Best Buy Health announced several strategic partnerships with renowned health care providers across the country. Through this work, Best Buy leveraged its expertise in omnichannel, supply chain, Caring Center support and services, in-home support and our ability to connect patients and physicians.
PR Newswire: Home for the Holidays - DispatchHealth Delivers Emergency Room Care to Living Room (12/24) - As the holiday season brings joy and festivities, it also comes with its share of health concerns for many community members. Traditionally, emergency rooms (ER) have been the go-to destination for holiday health mishaps; however, DispatchHealth offers another option for urgent medical care—one that delivers healthcare right to patients' doorsteps. DispatchHealth is primed to combat these health risks through prompt, on-site medical services, including testing, diagnosis, and treatment initiation.
19th News: How $37 billion in Federal Funding is Being Used to Improve At-Home Caregiving (12/20) – Vice President Kamala Harris highlighted the positive impact of $37 billion in American Rescue Plan funding on expanding and improving home- and community-based services (HCBS). Over seven million older and disabled Americans depend on these services, and the workforce is predominantly composed of women, particularly women of color. The funding, part of the stimulus package passed in 2021, allowed states flexibility in its application. However, the funding is temporary and set to expire in 2025, requiring continued action from Congress to sustain improvements in home care.
Intermountain Health: Intermountain Hospital-at-Home Program Surpasses 1K Patients (12/19) - Intermountain Health's hospital-level care at home program has surpassed 1,000 patients since the service began in May 2020. The service is provided through Castell — a digital and population health subsidiary of Intermountain — and aims to provide patients with the right level of care in the right place at a lower cost. The program is available to Intermountain patients who meet specific clinical and nonclinical criteria and come in through an emergency department visit or have been admitted to the hospital and qualify for early transfer home.
Home Health Care News: Biden Administration Urges Judge to Throw Out NAHC’s Home Health Payment Lawsuit (12/19) – The Biden administration has asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) against CMS and HHS over invalid and unlawful approach to determining home health payments. The government argues that the case should be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction and that NAHC's members have failed to exhaust their administrative remedies. The association will establish in court that Medicare has violated the law with the payment rate cuts.
PR Newswire: Kidneylink Announced Program Growth in Value-Based Kidney Care (12/13) - Kidneylink, a national, value-based kidney care company founded by U.S. Renal Care, announced expanding its network to more than 600 nephrologists across 20 U.S. based markets and caring for more than 16,000 people living with kidney disease, both Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and End Stage Kidney Disease (ESKD).
McKnights Home Care: Best Buy Furthers Home Care Capabilities with RPM Partnership (12/13) – Biobeat, a remote patient monitoring solutions provider, is collaborating with Best Buy's Current Health platform to enhance Best Buy's home care initiatives. These sensors will integrate with Current Health's capabilities, enabling round-the-clock monitoring of patients in home care. Biobeat's early warning function uses AI algorithms to alert clinicians about significant updates to patients' conditions. Best Buy has been actively advancing its home care capabilities.
Modern Healthcare: Nemours to Launch Pediatric Hospital-at-Home Program Next Year (12/12) - Nemours Children’s Health plans to launch a pediatric hospital-at-home program next year, despite questions about how it will be reimbursed for home-based care. The program would provide acute home-based care to patients within a 40-mile radius of the health system’s two hospitals in Wilmington, Delaware, and Orlando, Florida, said Dr. Eric Jackson, chief innovation officer. The care would include remote patient monitoring, telehealth and in-person visits to children with urgent, short-term illnesses such as respiratory syncytial virus, Covid-19, bronchitis and influenza.
McKnights Home Care: MedPAC Draws Fire with Draft Recommendations for Massive Home Health Cut, Hospice Rate Freeze (12/12) – MedPAC has recommended initial measures to Congress, proposing a seven percent cut in home health reimbursement and a pause in hospice payment updates in 2025. MedPAC argues that Medicare fee-for-service pays well above costs, with home health margins at 22.2 percent, attributing the high margins to a decline in the number of visits per 30-day period. Home health advocates, including the Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare and the National Association for Home Care & Hospice, dispute MedPAC's claims, citing poor methodology and data. The recommendations are in draft form, with a formal vote scheduled for January and the annual report to Congress set to be released in March.
Home Health Care News: How Mass General Brigham Is Accelerating Its Care-At-Home Arm (12/11) - Hospital at home’s presence in the U.S. continues to grow. But even before the care delivery model became more visible, Mass General Brigham was a major player in the space. Heather O’Sullivan, president of Mass General Brigham’s Healthcare at Home segment, joined Home Health Care News for the latest episode of HHCN+ TALKS.
Health Leaders: Patient Experience is Crucial to the Success of Hospital at Home (12/10) – HaH programs, which allow patients to receive care at home rather than in a hospital, have demonstrated positive clinical outcomes. More than 220 health systems are participating in this program, taking advantage of new technologies and CMS waivers for Medicare reimbursement. The program has helped reduce inpatient traffic, patient length of stay, and rehospitalizations, with patients reporting higher satisfaction and improved outcomes.
Home Health Care News: The Strategies, Metrics Most Important to Staffing Efforts in Home-Based Care (12/8) – Building and maintaining a workforce in the home-based care industry is challenging, with many providers attempting to recruit their way out of a retention problem. Kevin Kirkland, a senior business strategist with MissionCare Collective, emphasizes the need for a well-thought-out strategy for recruitment and retention. To change the way the home care industry tackles recruitment and retention, it has to change the way it thinks about it — both from a business perspective and an operational perspective.
Home Health Care News: Private Equity, AI Likely to Power Home-Based Care in 2024 (12/8) – The home-based care industry anticipates increased dealmaking and the application of AI in the near future. While private equity (PE) activity has been slow in 2023, with only 25 home health, hospice, and home care deals in the third quarter, PE firms are expected to become more active in 2024. Additionally, the use of AI in home-based care is gaining traction, particularly in areas like documentation and employee retention, where predictive models can help address scheduling challenges and predict employee departures.
Becker's Health IT: Inside the Top 8 Hospital-at-Home Programs (12/7) - Hospital-at-home care has grown exponentially in recent years, enabled by technological advances and regulatory changes, allowing acute-care patients to be treated in the comfort of their homes. But which health systems are leading the way in this care model? And what will it take for it to reach its full potential? Becker's reached out to leaders of the largest hospital-at-home programs around the country to find out.
Home Health Care News: Seniors Aren’t Getting Enough Financial Support to Afford Home-Based Care (12/5) – A Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) webinar revealed that only a third of seniors living in their communities receive financial support or assistance from Medicaid for HCBS. The remaining two-thirds, half of whom live under 200 percent of poverty, face challenges in affording home care or assisted living. This highlights the underfunding of long-term care services in the U.S. and the reliance on family caregivers for support.
Home Health Care News: New Analysis Shows How Unaffordable Home Care Is Becoming For American Seniors (12/4) – A new analysis from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University reveals that only 14 percent of American seniors can afford personal care. The majority of seniors need in-home care services, and while some may qualify for Medicaid or Veterans Affairs (VA), many are left to pay out of pocket. The problem is exacerbated by rising billing rates, which have increased by 20 percent-40 percent since 2021. This financial strain forces many seniors to consider assisted living or nursing facilities instead of aging in place at home.
New York Times: Desperate Families Search for Affordable Home Care (12/2) – Families seeking home health aides often face a lack of government assistance, with family members stepping in, often with little training, to care for frail, elderly relatives. The burden of care typically falls on family members due to a lack of affordable and available professional caregivers. The shortage of caregivers is exacerbated by low wages and poor working conditions, resulting in a chronic shortage of workers in the home health industry.
Modern Healthcare: Could Sanford Health's Rural Hospital-at-Home Program be a Model? (12/1) – Sanford Health, one of the largest health systems in rural America, is set to launch its first acute home care program in North Dakota next spring. Sanford Health plans to scale the model to rural patients living up to 100 miles away using nurses and emergency medical technicians from its smaller critical access hospitals throughout North Dakota and northwest Minnesota. The HaH model gained traction during the COVID-19 pandemic and has been seen to address hospital overcrowding.
Fierce Healthcare: TytoCare's At-Home Smart Clinic to be Offered to St. Luke's Employees, Plan Members (11/30) – At-home virtual care company TytoCare has partnered with St. Luke’s Health System to provide its employees and St. Luke’s Health Plan members with access to its Home Smart Clinic. St. Luke’s Health System, based in Idaho, will offer TytoHome kits to its employees, while the health plan will make them available to members starting in 2024. The Home Smart Clinic allows families to conduct remote physical exams with a doctor, replicating in-clinic exams and is FDA-cleared for heart, lung, throat, ear, and body temperature exams. TytoCare aims to bring clinical quality to homes, particularly in rural and underserved areas.
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