4 Big Questions For Home Health, Home Care In 2023

Home health and home care operators grappled with numerous challenges in 2022 that impacted their businesses, from COVID-19 cases spiking due to the Omicron variant in the first quarter to labor pressures persisting throughout the year. For many providers, those headwinds turned their attention to maintaining growth, fine-tuning existing operations and avoiding loss, with service-line […]

What Home-Based Care Leaders Should Know About The $1.66 Trillion Spending Bill

The proposed $1.66 trillion omnibus government funding bill – which is expected to pass through the U.S. House and Senate this week – includes multiple home-based care provisions of importance. Among those is new home health payment transparency language, an extension of the rural add-on, a separate extension of the Money Follows the Person program […]

Despite Staffing Challenges, HCBS Interest Remains Strong Among Senior Living Providers

In the last year, home- and community-based service offerings either stayed relatively flat or dipped among most of the largest nonprofit senior living providers.  While senior living providers remain generally committed to these services, they have been tough to manage due to various factors, namely staffing woes. That and other takeaways are according to the […]

Final Rule ‘Blunts Immediate Impact,’ But CMS-Home Health Industry Core Disagreement Remains

Nearly five months after the unveiling of the proposed payment rule caused a stir among home health stakeholders and advocates, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its final payment rule on Monday. Back in June, CMS proposed a 4.2% aggregate decrease for 2023, a cut the industry at large felt would […]

Hundreds Of Stakeholders Voice Concerns As Home Health Proposed Rule Commenting Period Ends

The public comment window for the home health proposed payment rule closed on Tuesday. Overall, industry stakeholders had submitted 691 comments to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as of Tuesday morning. From the start, home health stakeholders took issue with CMS’ methodology for determining whether the Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) led […]

Home-Based Care Stakeholders Echo US Surgeon General’s Health Care Workforce Shortage Concerns

Home-based care stakeholders agree with the U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy that burnout among the nation’s health care staff could lead to an even more severe worker shortage. The ongoing staffing crisis in home-based care and other health care sectors was the topic of discussion this week as Vice President Kamala Harris visited the […]

Bipartisan Policy Center Makes Recommendations to CMS Aimed at Increasing Home Health Access

Despite the growing demand for home health services, fraud and abuse guardrails often limit access to the Medicare benefit, a recent Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) report suggests. The report highlights BPC’s recommendations for the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on how to improve home health services for Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries. “Given the […]