With The Election Nearing, Candidates Battle Over Home-Based Care

Less than a month before election day, the Democratic and Republican candidates for president are dueling over home-based care plans. Vice President Kamala Harris announced on “The View” this week a proposal that would allow home care to be administered through traditional Medicare. On the same day, former President Donald Trump and his campaign released […]

Years After Implementation, EVV Remains Inconsistent Pain Point For Home Care Providers

Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) was established as law in 2016 under the 21st Century Cures Act to address fraud and abuse in home-based care delivery. The law provides federal guidelines, but individual states can determine which service codes are included. However, years after nationwide implementation, EVV still remains a burden for home care providers. Simply […]

‘This Feels Different’: Lawmakers Push Federal Legislation To Tackle Health Care Workforce Crisis

Lawmakers have introduced federal legislation that aims to address the shortage of health care professionals, including home-based care professionals. On Wednesday, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky), and co-sponsor Morgan McGarvey (D-Ky), introduced H.R.9812 into the House of Representatives. The bill is looking to tackle the dearth of nurses, nurse aides and more, by incentivising states to […]

Lawmakers Set Sights On Eliminating Age Restrictions For Medicaid Buy-In Program

U.S. Sens. Bob Casey (D-Penn.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) have set their sights on lifting age-based restrictions in the Medicaid buy-in program. Their proposed legislation has the potential to widen the addressable market for home care providers. On Wednesday, the policymakers introduced the Ensuring Access to Medicaid Buy-In Programs Act. If enacted, the legislation would […]

Competition Heats Up For New York CDPAP Contract

PALCO, a financial management service (FMS) provider based in Little Rock, Arkansas, has announced its participation in the bidding process to become the exclusive administrator of New York’s Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP). The company, along with Alpharetta, Georgia-based Public Partnerships LLC, is one of the organizations to publicly surface as one of the […]

How The Supreme Court’s Chevron Decision Could Help Stop Home Health Cuts

On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court upended the Chevron doctrine precedent. For home health industry purposes, that means a potentially weakened Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) moving forward. The news comes just two days after the home health proposed payment rule was released, which included significant cuts for the third straight year. Broadly, […]

‘An Absurd Amount of Denials’: New Legislation Seeks to Streamline Access to Home Health Services, Improve Senior Care

A group of bipartisan lawmakers this week reintroduced legislation aimed at curtailing restrictive – and often flawed – prior-authorization processes within Medicare Advantage (MA). As it has been to most other parts of health care, prior authorization has long been problematic for home health providers and patients. That’s been increasingly true as more insurers have […]

Congresswoman Kat Cammack Introduces Legislation To Block 80-20 Rule

One policymaker is attempting to put a halt to the 80-20 rule. At the start of the week, the “Ensuring Access to Medicaid Services” rule was finalized. The 80-20 provision is, arguably, the most controversial component of the Medicaid rule. In summary, the provision calls for 80% of Medicaid payments for home- and community-based services […]