News and Market Developments
Health Affairs: Reset Medicare’s Home Health Benefit (7/14) - The Medicare home health benefit is designed to provide in-home assistance to beneficiaries who are recovering after a hospitalization or are “homebound” and need help managing medical conditions. Despite a growing aging population, the US has seen home health visits decline steeply over the past two decades, as the share of visits has increased for skilled care, particularly therapy services. Many Medicare beneficiaries face barriers, including incomplete information or a lack of understanding, that limit access to home health services.
ACLU: Home Care Workers Protect the Civil Liberties of People with Disabilities. They Need Protection, Too (7/13) - At the onset of the pandemic, as most of the country shuttered themselves inside to avoid COVID-19 infection, home health aides remained on the front lines, taking care of our loved ones and risking their lives in the process. These caregivers — the majority of whom are Black and Brown immigrant women — face considerable risks on the job. And home health aides, like many essential workers, are prone to pandemic-related emotional burnout because they often work alone, isolated from supportive colleagues. Now in the pandemic’s third year, we must urge both federal and state action to ensure that those who care for our loved ones and neighbors are able to stay healthy and safe.
Vermont Biz: Jill Mazza Olson: Grim news for home health care (7/13) - CMS is proposing a substantial cut to Medicare home health services effective on January 1, 2023. The VNAs of Vermont estimate that in Vermont, the proposed rule will amount to a 6.9 percent cut to rural home health agencies in Vermont compared to 2022 rates. Those few agencies in Vermont that are considered “urban” will see a 6.3 percent cut. William A. Dombi, President of the National Association for Home Care & Hospice, said, “We are extremely disappointed in the CMS proposed rule issued today. The stability of home health care is at risk . . . with significantly rising costs for staff, transportation, and more, home health agencies across the country cannot withstand the impact of the proposed rate cut.”
Home Health Care News: ‘The Patient Will See You Now’: Aetna’s CMO Explores Home Health Care’s Future (7/13) - CVS has flirted with the idea of Medicare-based home health acquisitions. Taking a zoomed-out view paints a larger and grander strategy, however, where Aetna and CVS’ visions combine. “We are diversifying our growth portfolio with new health services,” CVS Health President and CEO Karen Lynch said in May. “We are expanding our capabilities in home health as we prepare for the 2023 launch of a post-acute transitions pilot for our Aetna membership in select geographies.”
Healthcare IT News: Marshfield Clinic creating hospital-at-home program with Dispatch Health (7/13) - Marshfield serves a population in Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula with more than 60 Marshfield Clinic locations and 11 hospitals. With this new collaboration, it will expand access to its patients in rural communities in their homes. "The face of health care is evolving faster than ever, and we are evolving along with it," Marshfield Clinic Health System CEO Dr. Susan Turney said in a statement. "This partnership and the value it brings to our patients aligns with our commitment to bring high-quality health care services close to, and in this case inside, the homes of our patients. It is a win for our organization and for those we serve."
Home Health Care News: Majority of States Lacked Caregiver Hazard Pay, Sick Leave During Pandemic (7/12) - “In terms of spreading home-based primary care, this is just a dream.” Dr. Thomas Cornwell, the senior medical director of Village Medical at Home, told Home Health Care News. “Part of my living that dream is because the leaders of the founders and leaders of village MD … just believe that the future of health care is at least in part in the home. They have this incredible vision of bringing more home-based primary care to the country.” Moving forward, Village Medical at Home will continue to look to expand, both to advance VillageMD’s mission and the mission of bringing more home-based primary care to people around the country.
Home Health Care News: Proposed Payment Rule Could Trigger $18B Cumulative Cut to Medicare Home Health Reimbursement (7/12) - Released on June 17, the 2023 home health proposed payment rule seeks to lower aggregate provider payments by 4.2%, or about $810 million. That figure includes a 2.9% Medicare payment increase, as well as a 6.9% cut related to the Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) and a 0.2% cut related to outlier payments. “Home health services bring proven value to patients and Medicare with high-quality care that is cost-effective,” National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) President William A. Dombi said in a statement. “This proposal would jeopardize the continued availability of thousands of providers throughout the country.”
Home Health Care News: Looming Provider Choice Home Care Regulations ‘Slap in Face’ to Smaller Providers (7/11) - A new proposal in Pennsylvania that would create “unnecessary” duplication for how disabled patients choose their home care providers and receive care is causing some angst in the Keystone state. Choosing a home care agency or caregiver plan is one of the highest priorities for people living with disabilities in Pennsylvania. A new proposal from the state legislature that is intended to give patients more freedom to choose could end up giving patients less, according to experts.
Home Health Care News: VillageMD Continues Driving Home-Based Primary Care, A Trend That’s Not Going Away (7/11) - “In terms of spreading home-based primary care, this is just a dream.” Dr. Thomas Cornwell, the senior medical director of Village Medical at Home, told Home Health Care News. “Part of my living that dream is because the leaders of the founders and leaders of village MD … just believe that the future of health care is at least in part in the home. They have this incredible vision of bringing more home-based primary care to the country.” Moving forward, Village Medical at Home will continue to look to expand, both to advance VillageMD’s mission and the mission of bringing more home-based primary care to people around the country.
Mass General Brigham: Mass General Brigham Announces Leader for Home-Based Care (7/11) - Heather O’Sullivan, MS, AGNP, a clinical executive with more than 20 years of experience, has been named Mass General Brigham’s inaugural President of Home-Based Care. In this transformative role, Heather will be instrumental in expanding Mass General Brigham’s ability and capacity to shift care beyond traditional hospital settings to home-based care, with the goal of improving patient outcomes, increasing access, and lowering costs. “Home Care was founded upon the belief that people recover better at home,” said Gregg S. Meyer, MD, MSc, President of Community Division and Executive Vice President of Value-Based Care, Mass General Brigham. “Heather is joining at a critical juncture for Mass General Brigham and the future of health care delivery. Due to the COVID pandemic and the evolving needs of our community, we have seen an accelerated demand for home hospital offerings. We are dedicated to placing patients at the center of everything we do, no matter where they are, and the future of health care is in the home.”
Home Health Care News: What Home Health Providers Can Learn from Hospice OIG Audits
(7/11) - As the home health space continues to grow, federal oversight and the scrutiny attached to the industry have grown with it. “As we have been following and reporting on those hospice audits, the OIG has been looking at the home health space as well,” Bryan Nowicki said this week on a Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.. “They’re very similar in overall structure with what we have been working on with hospice. They’re looking for certain kinds of errors that they’ve identified as being recurring or ‘top of mind’ in the home health field.”
Home Health Care News: Home Care Franchisers Increasingly Looking to Launch Home Health Business Lines (7/11) - J.J. Sorrenti was picked to lead the Bloomfield Hills, Michigan-based Best Life Brands as CEO in April 2020, just a month into the COVID-19 pandemic. There have been ups and downs for the company, which has both home care and home health locations in its portfolio. Yet Sorrenti is optimistic about his company’s future. Home Health Care News caught up with Sorrenti on a recent Disrupt episode to talk about home care and brand growth.
Managed Healthcare Executive: Navigating the Shift to Home-Based Care: 4 Strategies for Success (7/08) - Home-based care is gaining traction with health systems and accountable care organizations (ACOs) as care delivery continues to move outside of the hospital and into the home and community. Evidence of this shift is present in recent data from The Institute of Accountable Care (IAC), showing an increase in home-based care among ACOs. In fact, half of the home-based care programs developed by ACOs were formed between 2017 and 2019 , almost double the 26% formed between 2014 and 2016, according to the same study.
Newsday: Medicare rewards Northwell for top at-home care program (7/08) - Medicare funds the at-home services through Independence at Home, a program that aims to “improve the overall quality of care and quality of life for patients served, while lowering health care expenditures by avoiding costly hospital care and forestalling the need for care in institutional settings,” according to the federal agency that runs Medicare. Independence at Home paid Northwell $6.54 million to reward it for cost savings and performance on quality measures in 2020, making it the top-performing practice of the 10 participants in the national program, the most recent Medicare report on the effort shows.
JD Supra: CMS Proposes Prospective Payment Rules for Home Health, Home Infusion and End-Stage Renal Disease (7/08) - Earlier this month, CMS issued a pair of proposed rules to update reimbursement for home health and end-stage renal disease services. The CY 2023 Home Health Prospective Payment System (HH PPS) rate update proposed rule (the HH Proposed Rule) was issued June 17, 2022. The CY 2023 End-Stage Renal Disease Prospective Payment System (ESRD PPS) proposed rule (ESRD Proposed Rule) was issued June 21, 2022. The article provides a summary of notable proposed changes in the two proposed rules.
Cision PR Newswire: Tampa General Hospital is Launching TGH at Home, an Innovative Program Providing Personalized Care and Improved Patient Access (7/07) - Tampa General Hospital patients now have a new option for care that combines the expertise of a world-class facility with the comfort of their own home. Tampa General Hospital (TGH)'s Hospital at Home program combines expert care and innovative technology with a focus on the needs of the patient. TGH at Home gives eligible patients an opportunity to stay home, while receiving best-in-class clinical hospital care from health care providers including physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners and certified nurse assistants. Based on the same standards used inside the hospital, patients receive daily in-home visits from health care providers, virtual visits and around-the-clock remote patient monitoring.
Home Health Care News: AccentCare CMO: Bottom-Up Payment Approach Key to Accelerating Hospital-at-Home Adoption (7/06) - The hospital-at-home movement has been a striking trend in the home-based care space over the last few years, but it hasn’t been driven by home-based care providers. There are those who want to change that, however, believing that centering hospital-at-home models around home-based care providers is the best way forward. A bottom-up approach – where the model would start with community-based organizations, instead of health systems – would be more practical from a patient and reimbursement perspective.
Home Health Care News: Executive Home Care Set to Expand Nationwide Through Franchising (7/06) - In December, Jason Wiedder was brought on alongside CEO Tim Hadley to Executive Home Care, a home care provider with 20 locations spread across the Northeast and Florida. Now, the company is planning to grow nationally through franchising, it announced this week. Even though the country’s economic picture is murky, leaders at Executive Home Care see an opportunity for growth. Wiedder said. “Our industry is fairly recession-resistant. When people are trying to save money, they’re going to stop going to restaurants, the gym, but they’re not going to stop paying for their mom and dad for in-home care.”
Modern Healthcare: Q&A with Michael Dandorph: 'Home care was an enormous advantage for us' (7/05) - Tufts Medicine comprises hospitals, a home health division and a clinically integrated network of physicians. “Home care was an enormous advantage for us because we were able to keep people who didn’t need to come into the hospital out of the hospital. That taught us a lot about how to integrate home care and our clinically integrated network into our hospital network.”
Home Health Care News: Enhabit Home Health & Hospice Completes Spinoff from Encompass Health (7/01)
- Enhabit Home Health & Hospice has completed its spinoff from Encompass Health Corporation. “Today marks a new and exciting chapter for our company, and we look forward to embarking on this next phase of growth with our team,” Enhabit President and CEO Barb Jacobsmeyer said in a statement. “As an independent company, we will have enhanced strategic and operational flexibility to put the interests of our patients, people and investors first as we strive to bring high-quality, compassionate care to every patient where they are most comfortable: in their homes.”
Home Health Care News: Walgreens Boots Alliance Remains Focused On Home, But Faces Near-Term Drags (7/01) - Walgreens Boots Alliance remains committed to its growth strategy, one that includes the continued incorporation of home-based care. The investments Walgreens has made in VillageMD, BrightSpring Health Services and CareCentrix are particularly noteworthy for those in home-based care. Sales for VillageMD – the home-focused primary care provider – increased nearly 70% year over year to more than $511 million, a bright spot in the company’s earnings call. Walgreens and VillageMD have continued their rollout of co-located clinics, with 120 now open. They are on pace to hit 200 by the end of 2022, and the plan is to open 1,000 in five years.
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