January 3, 2024

Welcome to the Moving Health Home newsletter!

In this monthly newsletter, you will find policy developments, research, and updates on how health care organizations are striving to shift more health care delivery into the home – meeting patient needs where they are and expanding access to quality health care.

Please send any news or events to rcheung@movinghealthhome.org for future inclusion in this newsletter.

Moving Health Home Updates

Moving Health Home: Third Annual Member Fly-In (12/12 ) - Moving Health Home members met with staff on the Hill to advocate for expanding care in the home. Participation in Moving Health Home creates new opportunities for members. Not only do members help to enable the home to be a clinical site of care, as leaders in the coalition they are instrumental in shaping the policy agenda across Washington DC and the nation.

Learn more about our current work, recent accomplishments, and opportunities for participation.

Congress

House of Representatives: 21st Century Cures White Paper (12/24) - Reps. DeGette (D-CO) and Bucshon (R-IN) released a white paper which highlights themes from the 21st Century Cures RFI earlier this year. The white paper provides a framework for a revamped Cures 2.1 for the next congressional session. The white paper includes recommendations for congressional action within telehealth, Medicare coverage of innovative products, and FDA regulation of software as a medical device.

End of Year Package: American Relief Act of 2025 (12/21) - On December 20, the House passed the American Relief Act of 2025 (H.R. 10545) by a vote of 366-34, which would fund the government through March 14, 2025. On December 21, the Senate passed the bill by a vote of 85-11 and the President signed the bill into law. Health care provisions include a 90-day extension for Medicare telehealth flexibility and the acute hospital care at home waiver. Moving Health Home was instrumental in ensuring the acute hospital care at home waiver remained part of the package. MHH worked with offices and reached out to hundreds of stakeholders to ensure access continued for hospital at home programs.

Senate: Older Americans Act Reauthorization Act of 2024 (12/10) - The Older Americans Act Reauthorization Act of 2024 (S. 4776) passed the Senate by unanimous vote and has moved on to the House for consideration. It will need to be reauthorized in the 119th Congressional session. The Older Americans Act is a federal law that provides funding and support for services aimed at enhancing the well-being, independence, and dignity of older adults, including nutrition programs, caregiver support, and community-based services. 

Administration

Food and Drug Administration: Center for Devices and Radiological Health Home as a Health Care Hub’s Idea Lab (12/30) - The Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) released the Idea Lab, which will give users an immersive experience inside various affordable homes of representative people living with diabetes, a chronic condition that impacts millions of Americans. The Idea Lab will also include insights from patients, caregivers, providers and experts, tours of different types of affordable housing environments, and landscape research into design opportunities for innovation.

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality: Request For Information: Impact of Ageism in Healthcare (12/27) - The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) released a request for information to understand the impacts of ageism on healthcare quality, including aspects related to safety, timeliness, patient-centeredness, equitable distribution, and care outcomes. In particular, the agency is interested in identifying efforts and innovative strategies and programs that address and mitigate ageism to optimize older adults’ health. Comments are due March 15, 2025.

Office of Science and Technology Policy: Recommendations on Data About Federally Employed Military and Veteran Spouses, Caregivers, and Survivors (12/26) - This report described the current research and data landscape, learnings from public engagement, and specific recommendations on improving data relevant to critical elements of policy for military and veteran spouses, caregivers, and survivors.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services: Lessons from CMS’ Acute Hospital Care at Home Initiative (12/17) - Early lessons from the AHCAH initiative suggest that providers can deliver safe, quality inpatient care in home settings for appropriately selected patients, aligned with and helping to advance the CMS Center for Clinical Standards and Quality core mission. CMS explored the inclusion of additional measures of cost, including costs to individual hospitals, as well as additional measures of quality and utilization. CMS also considered ways to work with hospitals to diversify patient populations receiving care through AHCAH, particularly lower-income and rural populations. 

Research and Polling

The Remington Report: Ten Highest Chronic Conditions in Home Care (12/20) - The Remington Report released a report of the ten most common chronic conditions managed in home care. In the U.S., 90% of the annual health care expenditure of $4.1 trillion is attributed to individuals with chronic and mental health conditions. The ten most common chronic conditions are hypertension, diabetes, congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, arthritis and osteoarthritis, dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, chronic kidney disease, stroke rehabilitation and neurological disorders, cancer, and mental health conditions.

Nephrology and Hypertension: Home Dialysis: There’s No Place Like Home (12/16) - This literature review reviews changing practice guidelines for prescribing home dialysis and examining the goals of treatment from the patient and caregiver perspectives. The review highlights the benefits of home dialysis.

JAMA Network: The Next Step in Hospital-at-Home Care Could be Virtual (12/13) - Virtual programs like Safer@Home are gaining traction as part of the broader hospital-at-home movement. This article examined hurdles in the hospital-at-home program and how the program can be made more efficient with technologies.

The Remington Report: How Can Home Care Participate in the Age-Friendly Hospital Measure for Senior Care? (12/11)- Home care can play a critical role in supporting the goals of Age-Friendly Health Systems by aligning its practices with the 4Ms Framework that is foundational to these systems. The 4Ms are: What Matters, Medication, Mentation, and Mobility. This report highlighted how home care can integrate in the Age-Friendly Hospital Measure.

The Gerontologist: Family Care Partners and Paid Caregivers: National Estimates of Role-Sharing in Home Care (12/9) - Results from the 2015 National Health and Aging Trends Study show that family care partners and paid caregivers assisting with the same tasks is common, especially among older adults living with dementia who are not Medicaid-enrolled. Strategies supporting information sharing and collaboration in home-based care merit investigation.

Sage Publishing: Decentralized Clinical Trials at Home: Commentary on Caregivers’ Burden (11/20) - This article described how decentralized clinical trials might affect the caregivers of cancer patients. The points discussed include how technological challenges for those without adequate digital literacy can overburden participants and their caregivers at home, as well as managing and optimizing research logistics and safe handling of samples.

News and Market Developments

Becker’s Health IT: Orlando Health Hospital-at-Home Program Treats 2,000th Patient: Five Things to Know (12/30) - Orlando Health Hospital Care at Home has served more than 2,000 patients since launching in February 2023. Patients in the Orlando Health patient care hub have 24/7 remote monitoring and virtual care by nurses and providers. Medical conditions that can be cared for safely in the home-based program include: cellulitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, urinary tract infection, heart failure, COVID-19, pneumonia, gastroenteritis​, acute pancreatitis, multiple sclerosis flare-ups, sepsis and vasculitis.

Home Health Care News: Best Buy Health Lays Out Biggest Lessons Learned From Hospital-At-Home (12/19) - A recent whitepaper released by Best Buy Health highlights how hospital-at-home programs need to educate their clinicians to expect data variations. “Repeat training sessions with clinicians as they gain familiarity with this new stream of data,” Best Buy Health wrote. “Patients and caregivers should also be trained to use the technology, and if the collected vital signs are visible to patients and carers, prepare them for what they might see to avoid any undue concern.”

Home Health Care News: HRS Founder Aims To ‘Democratize’ Investment Banking, Exit Process For Home-Based Care Providers (12/17) - During his time as CEO of home-focused telehealth and remote patient monitoring company Health Recovery Solutions, Jarrett Bauer aimed to help more home-based care providers extend their reach through virtual care.

Home Health Care News: Empath Health CEO On ‘Jumping Into’ The Risk Business in Home-Based Care (12/16) - Florida-based Empath Health is expanding their service lines. They offer hospice, home health care, palliative care, grief services, Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), adult day services, primary care services and more. Earlier this year, the company completed an affiliation process with Trustbridge, which formed the largest nonprofit post-acute provider organization in the state of Florida.

Home Health Care News: More Than Half Of Home-Based Care Providers Are Investing In AI (12/13) - A recent survey by Home Health Care News and Forcura revealed that more than half of home-based care companies have either already invested in artificial intelligence (AI) or plan to do so within the next year. The primary motivation behind this trend is the ongoing staffing shortages in the sector.

Health Leaders: Sanford Health Gets Real on Virtual Care (12/12) - South Dakota-based Sanford health system's Virtual Care Center aims to use the latest in digital and telehealth technology and programs to address key pain points in rural health care. The center will develop new tools and strategies to improve access to care in a region where geography and weather are significant barriers.The Virtual Care Center is divided into an Education Institute, Innovation Center and Clinical Service Delivery labs.

Home Health Care News: Another State Faces The Pros, Cons Of Standardizing Home Care (12/11) - Home care providers are now required to be licensed by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. Regulations requiring licensure ensures agencies have to meet hiring standards and care professionals receive proper training. Industry leaders notice drawbacks of the licensing requirements are increased expenses and that they were crafted by individuals who “do not fully understand the home care industry.”

Healthcare IT News: Seventy-Four Percent of Hospital Leaders Say Virtual Nursing Will Become Integral to Acute Care (12/10) - AvaSure, a virtual nursing technology and services company, released a study from “The Virtual Care Insight Survey.” They found that thirty percent of hospital leaders and hospital IT leaders reported no virtual nursing in their organizations. At the same time, seventy-four percent of leaders believe virtual nursing is or will become integral to care delivery models in acute inpatient care.

TechTarget: Virtual Acute Care at Home Cutes Length of Hospital Stay (12/6) - A study shows that an at-home care model incorporating virtual care, remote patient monitoring and urgent care was linked to shorter hospital stays than standard inpatient care. Los Angeles General Medical Center’s Safer@Home model is similar to the hospital-at-home care model, but allows patients to be discharged to their homes and cared for via virtual clinical and remote patient monitoring services, oral or inhalation therapy, and return urgent care visits when in-person care is needed.

Upcoming Events

January 23, Becker's Hospital Review, "This Way Home: Top 10 Predictions for Care at Home in 2025”

January 29, The Remington Report, “The Future of Home Care: 6 Key Predictions for 2025”

January 30-31, BRI Network, “2025 Hospital at Home Healthcare Leadership Summit”

March 29 - April 2, National Home Infusion Foundation, “NHIA25”

Please subscribe to this newsletter and send any news or events to rcheung@movinghealthhome.org for inclusion in this newsletter.