News and Market Developments
McKnights Home Care: 2023 Home Care Predictions: Technology and Regulations (3/2) - In 2023, home care is expected to assume a new shape, largely influenced by industry developments centered on technology and new legislation. Armed with the right innovative tools and regulatory support, the home care community is poised to rise to the next level. As the health care community becomes more comfortable with technology, including AI and predictive analytics, it will be increasingly integrated into home care and hospital-at-home programs, supporting enhanced communication among providers to allow close coordination around the delivery of higher acuity services in the home. These technologies offer great potential to support proactive care by monitoring individuals and capturing real-time data that can be used to spot trends and improve outcomes, all in the comfort of members’ homes. Connecting home care data to electronic health records (EHRs) and health systems with social services will also help to ensure continuity of care.
Signify Health: RISE 2023: The Future of Health is in the Home (2/28) - MHH member Signify Health published a blog which highlights how in-home health services like in-home health evaluations (IHEs) can bridge critical gaps in care. IHEs expands care for those who are isolated, lack transportation, or have other barriers that prevent them from getting to a doctor's office. The blog also emphasizes the need to meet the aging population where they are to ensure a more connective and effective care experience.
Home Health Care News: Gentiva Acquires ProMedica’s Home Care, Hospice Assets For $710 Million (2/27) - Gentiva, the company comprised of the hospice and personal home care assets of what was formerly Kindred at Home, has agreed to acquire ProMedica’s Heartland home health and hospice assets for $710 million. Though Gentiva’s network is mainly hospice- and personal care-focused, the company will be the new owner of 15 Medicare-certified home health agencies after the ProMedica deal is completed. After the deal is finalized, the Atlanta-based Gentiva will have boosted its location count from 380 to 500, and its patient census from about 25,000 to 34,000. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of this year.
Sharecare: Sharecare Expands Its Home Care Offerings (2/27) - Sharecare, a digital health company, announced its expanded home care offerings beyond Medicare Advantage to deliver targeted care management programs and transitional care for high-risk populations across all lines of business within health plans, as well as large employers and health systems. With several of the largest payors in the U.S. already among Sharecare's home care customers, CareLinx by Sharecare is currently available to over two million Medicare Advantage members as a supplemental benefit, with nearly half of those in transitional care programs. For additional coverage, see Home Health Care News.
McKnights Home Care: Pennant Group Executives Vow to Reduce Turnover (2/27) - Eagle-ID-based Pennant Group’s strong fourth quarter and 2022 performance indicated the company is on an upward trajectory for 2023. On Thursday, the company reported earnings of $0.18 a share in the fourth quarter on $127.4 million in revenues compared to $0.07 a share on revenues of $111.8 million during the same period last year. The company said home health admissions increased by 8.2 percent in both the final quarter and full year of 2022.
Home Health Care News: Partnerships Within The Larger Home-Based Care Space Are Becoming More Common (2/27) - Recently, home care providers, digital health companies and other stakeholders have been joining together to close the gaps in care. Companies like DispatchHealth – a high-acuity at-home care provider – are partnering with non-clinical home care companies like FirstLight Home Care and Amada Senior Care, and also with larger home health providers like Enhabit. Partnering with different companies improves efficiency and it also opens the door to more real-time data sharing.
"We have such a short window to come in and intervene on these patients when there’s something happening in their home. It’s a couple of hours. So we’ve got to have more real-time access to connect each of our groups.” - Sara Crate, chief commercial officer with DispatchHealth
Home Health Care News: Elara Caring CEO: We’re Beginning To ‘Draw The Line’ In Medicare Advantage Relationships (2/26) - The home health industry is at an inflection point when it comes to working with MA plans, which are becoming a larger part of providers’ business by the day. In order to better set itself up for these changes, Elara Caring is adjusting operationally. All the while, it is considering whether to build out its own ER diversion and hospital at home programs, and also entering its next stage of growth. Scott Powers sat down with HHCN for the most recent edition of HHCN+ TALKS to chat about MA, hospital at home, automating workflows and much more.
MedCity News: BCBS Minnesota Inks Value-based Agreement With Homeward to Advance Rural Health Care (2/26) - Homeward will be serving BCBS Minnesota’s Medicare Advantage members in 24 counties. The company provides primary and specialty care in the home, virtually and in the community through mobile clinics. It leverages cellular-based remote monitoring to track patients’ health in-between visits. The company also partners with existing providers in the area for this care.
Home Health Care News: How Senior Care Disrupters Are Pushing Health Plans Further Into The Home (2/24) - More startups and innovators are being drawn to the home-based scare space. One such company, DUOS, engages with the seniors through Medicare Advantage (MA) plans and dual-eligible plans in order to aid them in their desire to age in place. A key part of the DUOS plan is to not begin with health care-related needs. Instead, the company starts by focusing on other needs, such as help around the house, food or transportation.
Home Health Care News: Our Main Goal Is To Grow In Personal Care (2/23) - Modivcare Inc. is committed to investing more time and resources into value-based care models, and eventually plans to move into more shared-risk arrangements across its entire platform. The company’s home division — which includes personal care and remote patient monitoring segments – saw $176 million in revenue, a 12 percent growth year over year. Modivcare CEO L. Heath Sampson credited a strong fourth quarter to solid growth in the company’s mobility business and double-digit growth in its home division.
Home Health Care News: UnitedHealth-LHC Group Deal ‘Ups The Ante’ For Rest Of Home Health Industry (2/23) - UnitedHealth Group, and its subsidiary Optum, completed the $5.4 billion acquisition of LHC Group. LHC Group operates 527 home health locations, 320 of which are fully owned by the company, and 203 of which are majority-owned by it through joint ventures. There is still plenty of MA business out there, and there’s even more demand for home health services. But Humana’s and UnitedHealth Group’s home health acquisitions do change things. For additional coverage, see Healthcare Dive.
Chief Healthcare Executive: More People Want Care at Home (2/23) - More Americans are opting for the home instead of nursing homes or other long-term care facilities. Lissy Hu of WellSky talks about the need to ensure patients get what they need. As more patients are opting for care at home, health systems, hospitals and primary care organizations are going to have to work together to ensure patients get what they need.
Forbes: How AI, Digital Health And Home-Based Services Can Help Prevent Hospital Readmission (2/23) - Hospital readmissions are a stubborn and complex problem; roughly 18 percent of all Medicare patients end up back in the hospital within a month of leaving, and many of these readmissions are preventable. There’s now a growing interest in automating these strategies through AI and digital technologies to provide better post-hospital care in the home. However, gaps in the infrastructure may contribute to miscommunication and result in delays in information sharing with patients.
Health Leaders: How Automated Care Helps Northwell Health Stay in Touch with Patients At Home (2/23) - Northwell Health's automated care strategy enables the health system to reach out to patients at home on a number of channels, including a chatbot, to connect with them in between medical visits. The programs address various patient populations and care gaps that occur between those visits and allow providers to better track a patient's health care journey. In one case, the program helped a care team identify and help a new mother who was experiencing severe depression.
McKnights Home Care: To Succeed in New Value Based Care World, Prepare Patients (2/23) - In health care, there can be a disconnect between patients, payers and providers in determining what amount of care is appropriate. The gap could widen under value-based care. In this McKnight’s Home Care Newsmakers podcast, Elara Caring’s Chief Medical Officer Kevin Henning, MD, explains how home health providers can better align those interests.
MedCity News: Health Care is Moving to the Home. Are Health Plans Ready? (2/22) - The future of health care means more home-based care. By taking steps now to embrace this shift, health plans will set the pace for supporting patients in the place where they most want to receive care. Confronted by continually rising health care costs, health plans are embracing opportunities to introduce new models for managing cost and improving quality. Home-based care offers a high-quality, cost-effective alternative, improving patient outcomes at a lower-cost site of care while reducing hospital readmissions.
McKnights Home Care: Home Care Takes Steps to Prepare for LGBTQ+ ‘Rainbow Wave’ (2/22) - For nearly a decade, Always Best Care in Boulder, CO has been providing LGBTQ+ sensitivity training on-site to staff through Project Visibility. It is a 20-year-old program that is sponsored by Boulder County’s Agency on Aging and aims to help caregivers in home health, assisted living and skilled nursing affirm the rights and needs of LGBTQ+ seniors. Included Health helps identify and verify providers that it says create a “safe and welcoming environment’ for LGBTQ+ patients.
Becker's Hospital Review: How Yale's Home Hospital Program Works (2/22) - Irene Glavan of Stratford recently recuperated from pneumonia and RSV in her home’s family room, while still a patient at Bridgeport Hospital. Glavan participated in Yale New Haven Health’s Home Hospital program, which enabled her to receive treatment, have nurses visit twice a day and have the ability to contact the hospital at any time, all from home. First authorized during the COVID-19 pandemic, the program is helping relieve the crowded conditions at the hospitals, as well as giving patients a more comfortable experience.
PR Newswire: Biofourmis and Augusta University Health Partner to Improve Clinical Outcomes and Maximize Hospital Capacity Through Continuum-Wide Care at Home (2/22) - MHH member Biofourmis, a technology-enabled care delivery provider, announced a four-year engagement with Augusta University Health (AU Health) to expand its Virtual Care at Home program across the continuum. The collaboration will focus on improving throughput in the emergency department (ED) and inpatient setting, reducing hospital readmissions, enabling optimal clinical outcomes, and improving the experience of patients and their families. AU Health's team will utilize the BiofourmisCare monitoring equipment, virtual care solution and analytics platform to monitor patients who are enrolled into the program. For additional coverage, see mHealth Intelligence and McKnights Home Care.
Home Health Care News: Inside Two Emerging Risk-Based Home Care Models (2/22) - In order to become less dependent on fee-for-service business, home health providers have begun to take on more risk. That has led to an emergence of risk-based home care models, many of which have given providers room to partake in upside and downside risk. Resilient Healthcare has used that trend to its advantage. Resilient is a Plano, Texas-based home-centered management services organization that works with home health providers on hospital-at-home and care management services.
Home Health Care News: Home Health Providers Still Lack ‘Bargaining Power’ In Negotiations With MA Plans (2/21) - Home Health Care News caught up with David Grabowski at the Home Care 100 conference, which took place in Orlando, Florida. In addition to being a member of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), he is also a professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School. Over the years, these positions have allowed him to emerge as an expert in the long-term care and post-acute care spaces. As such, Grabowski is in a position to offer insights on a variety of topics that are top of mind for home health care providers, among others.
Healthcare IT News: Why Health Care Leaders Should Embrace Home-Based Technologies (2/15) - Telehealth in home-based care can facilitate communication between physicians and patients. Allowing home-based technology can help focus on preventive care, which is central to physical and economic survival. Healthcare IT News interviewed Travis Rush, CEO of Reperio, a vendor of at-home biometric screening technologies, on home health issues and technologies.
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