News and Market Developments
Home Health Care News: CMS Hospital-at-Home Program Closing In On 200 Participants (4/19) – The hospital-at-home concept was developed long ago, but did not gain popularity until the COVID-19 crisis. And while its stalling was due to logistical and reimbursement problems, experts believe it’s finally here to stay. For home health and home care providers, that means another area to deliver their expertise and increase their bottom lines. As of April 16, 56 health systems and 127 hospitals across 29 states have been accepted as participants in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) hospital-at-home initiative, which is officially dubbed the “Acute Hospital Care at Home” program.
Mcknight's Senior Living: Should home healthcare be a new focus for Medicare Advantage? (4/20) – It’s intuitive; when we get sick, we bundle ourselves into our cars and go to the doctor. The American healthcare system concentrates its care providers in hospitals, clinics and practices for the sake of efficiency, service quality, and equipment availability. It’s far more convenient to provide care in a centralized facility than it is to schlep doctors, nurses and devices to a patient’s home. In this context, home healthcare appears to be a rarity intended for patients for whom travel is difficult — the last vestige of a care delivery system that fell out of vogue in the early 20th century. But now, homecare is on the rise.
Home Health Care News: DispatchHealth Makes First Acquisition, Acquires Mobile Imaging Company – (4/27) DispatchHealth has officially transitioned from “up-and-coming startup” to “active acquirer.” The company announced Tuesday that it has made its first-ever purchase by landing Professional Portable X-Ray (PPX), a mobile imaging provider. Denver, Colorado-based DispatchHealth offers hospital-at-home and mobile high-acuity services through its emergency medicine-trained teams. It currently operates in 29 markets across the U.S., with backing from some of health care’s biggest names.
Humana: Agreement to Acquire remaining 60 Percent Interest in Kindred at Home, Accelerating Integration of the Nation’s Largest Home Health Provider into Humana’s Payer-Agnostic Healthcare Services Platform (4/27) – Humana announced it signed a definitive agreement to acquire the remaining 60 percent interest in Kindred at Home (KAH), the nation’s largest home health and hospice provider. KAH employs approximately 43,000 caregivers providing home health, hospice, and community care services to over 550,000 patients annually. KAH has locations in 40 states, providing extensive geographic coverage with approximately 65 percent overlap with Humana’s individual Medicare Advantage membership.
Home Health Care News: In Speech to Congress, President Biden Again Shines Spotlight on Home-Based Care (4/29) – In a speech delivered to Congress Wednesday, President Joe Biden again mentioned the importance of providing care to seniors in their own homes. Specifically, he touted his administration’s previously announced American Jobs Plan, which would include $400 billion for home-based care. Much of that money would go to the workforce, with home health and home care agencies fighting to recruit and retain workers as the demand for services rises. “The American Jobs Plan will help millions of people get back to their jobs and their careers,” Biden said.
Politico: Will the nursing home of the future be an actual home? (4/30) – Not all Americans will have the luxury of choosing where they live when they’re old, whether it’s because they can’t afford to, their insurance coverage won’t pay for it, or a sudden illness forces them into a nursing home. Others may choose to live in a facility, and advocates are pushing to reform not just the nation’s financing structure, but to revamp traditional nursing homes with strengthened staffing ratios, better infection control measures and increased wages for nurses, which improves patient care as well as staff morale. Several legislative proposals are working their way through Congress to bolster care for seniors both inside and outside the nursing home.
HealthAffairs Blog: Navigating Care Transitions From SNF To Home During A Pandemic—Lessons Learned (5/6) – Transitions of care have long been recognized as a vulnerable time for patients and their caregivers, particularly among the frail elderly with chronic diseases and complex medical issues. Various models of care and interventions have been deployed to improve transitions of care and reduce readmission when patients move from acute care to a skilled nursing facility (SNF) or to home. Far less attention has been paid, however, to the process of preparing patients to transition from a short stay in a SNF back to their homes. National data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reveal undeniable room for improvement, with only 50 percent of patients with Medicare Part A coverage successfully returning to home or community following a short stay in a SNF.
|