In fact, a fee-for-service system can give patients and their families greater flexibility and can even decrease their costs, as they won’t be paying for care and services that they don’t receive, as is the case with some bundled service packages.

“Needs will change over time and you need a system to capture that,” said Wade Elliott, executive director and founding CEO of Orland, California-based WestHaven Senior Living, during a recent webinar hosted by the Institute for Professional Care Education (IPCed). “Fee-for-service programs [offer] personalized care, concierge services, technology programs — they give families choices. You’re allowing them to get what they want, rather than saying this is what we offer.”

Examples of some add-on services that families may choose are: transportation, housekeeping, bill paying, personal shopping, meal preparation, dressing, hygiene and grooming, appointments, occupational therapy, companion care, sitter service and concierge services.

And depending on where home care providers are located nationwide, they may be able to charge beyond the average price tag for these services. 

“You can charge whatever your clients are willing to pay; there is no top end,” Elliott said. “If I’m in Palo Alto, Calif., I can probably charge more than I would in Chico, Calif., because the clients that I serve are able and willing to pay it.”

Perhaps it’s because of this flexibility that some home care agencies say their clients think the fee-for-service structure is taking a “nickel and dime” approach. One provider brought up this concern during the webinar, to which Elliott said clients may feel that way because the fee increases may not be reflected by an increase in service. 

So how exactly can home care providers prevent their clients from having this mentality? It starts with building trust, Elliott said, offering three strategies for doing so. 

1. Communicate Early and Often

Being upfront and honest with your clients — both verbally and in written documentation — will provide a solid foundation for the fee-for-service model moving forward.

This means helping them understand exactly what fees are associated with what services, and how much you will be charging that particular patient. 

“You’ve got to educate them [and] undo that ‘nickel and dime’ interpretation of what you’re doing through careful, methodical, consistent communication of what’s going on,” Elliott said. “Put it in writing; tell them the truth.”

One of Elliott’s fee-for-service principles is: “If it’s not written, it’s not real.” 

Make sure that you’re providing written notice of any care plan changes — and also when a patient’s care hasn’t changed. 

“One of the mistakes we [as an industry] may have made was not disclosing up front what our services and fee structures are,” Elliott said. “If you don’t do a good job of explaining fee-for-service, … you’re going to have difficulty [with clients].”

2. Have a Purpose, Promise and Price

A fee-for-service program needs to be explicitly defined for clients. It could be as simple as giving each service a name. 

For example, at WestHaven Senior Living, “Level 2 Activities of Daily Living,” or L2AA, is the package for clients who need this level of care. 

Its purpose: “The goal of our Level 2 ADL program is to assist the resident with physical limitations in the maintenance and/or recovery of independent living skills,” according to an actual form WestHaven uses in determining a resident’s care plan. 

Its promise: “This level of care supports individuals who need personal assistance with up to five ADLs as described on page four. Level 2 residents (as distinguished from Level 3) are stable or improving physically and are participating in the maintenance and/or recovery of their independent living skills,” the form states. 

And finally, its price: Listed on the form, L2AA costs residents $525 per month.

“The key in building trust is you have to link all of this language to your appraisal,” Elliott said. 

3. Make Good On Your Word

If you’re increasing the care plan and the fees for a client, be sure the client begins receiving those additional services immediately. 

One complaint from fee-for-service clients is that they were provided written notice of the change in care plan, but they hadn’t yet received additional care. 

Providing inaccurate or inconsistent care could be a major obstacle in building clients’ trust. Be sure to avoid poor follow-up, and build in time for implementation of the additional service. 

Above all else, be patient. 

“When it comes to getting paid, just think about this: Would you rather get paid fast with pushback or would you rather get paid even if it takes a while with no pushback?” Elliott said. “It’s better to get it right than to get it fast. Part of the trust-building process frankly just takes time. Your families and clients or residents aren’t living and breathing this language the way we are. It takes time for them to get on board. I am committed in our organization to take the long approach and build this trust through very deliberate, careful, ongoing communication.”

Written by Emily Study

The post Building Client Trust in A La Carte Home Care: 3 Tips appeared first on Home Health Care News.

Since at least March 13, 2012, Caring First, Inc., along with its owner and president Ivanah V. Thomas, and vice president Timothy Thompson,  have misclassified employees, including their licensed practical nurses and registered nurses, as independent contractors — many of whom regularly worked more than 40 hours a week, the court document states. 

The defendants also allegedly failed to make, keep and preserve adequate and accurate records of the employees and of the wages, hours and other conditions and practices of employment maintained by them. 

In the suit, Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez is seeking back wages for a period of three years prior to Tuesday’s court filing, plus any time that passes pursuant to agreement by the parties, and an additional equal amount as liquidated damages to the employees. 

Written by Emily Study

The post Feds Sue Home Care Provider Over Contract Workers appeared first on Home Health Care News.

Hometown Home Health & Hospice Expanding Fleet in Central Michigan

Hometown Home Health & Hospice is expanding and upgrading its service fleet with 26 new, locally purchased Ford Focus vehicles provided by Enterprise Fleet Management. The move increases the size of the existing fleet by six vehicles to accommodate the growth of Hometown Home Health’s business in central Michigan.

Enterprise Fleet Management delivered Hometown Home Health’s first fleet of 20 vehicles in 2012. The program enacted in 2012 included plans to refresh the fleet with new vehicles after three years.

The Focus was selected because of its affordability and fuel efficiency. Each new Ford vehicle offers better fuel economy and lower emissions than many employees’ personal vehicles, some of which are older and less reliable than newer makes and models. Increasing the size of Hometown Home Health’s fleet also means fewer employees will need to seek reimbursement for mileage driven in their personal cars.

In addition to providing the vehicles, Enterprise provides vehicle registration and use reporting, as well as a fuel card program that automatically monitors fuel purchases and miles for each vehicle. Enterprise also will use local businesses to provide routine service and maintenance.  

AngMar Medical Holdings Selects Home Health Products to Implement 

National Research Corporation (NASDAQ: NRCIA and NRCIB) was recently selected by AngMar Medical Holdings, Inc. to implement its full line of OCS HomeCare products, including Home Health CAHPS (HHCAHPS) and the Healthcare Information Platform (HIP) for predictive analytics and benchmarking.

With the help of these integrated programs and personalized support, AngMar home health agencies seek to strengthen improvement of patient experiences and outcomes, while focusing on key performance measures such as 30-day hospital readmission rates.

In addition, AngMar agencies aim to more easily and effectively demonstrate value to hospitals and other providers as care coordination partners.

National Research will install its full line of home health products at all AngMar agency locations throughout 10 states, including Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas.

Encompass Home Health & Hospice Selects HealthMEDX EMR For Private Duty Division

National home care provider Encompass Home Health & Hospice announced recently that it has selected HealthMEDX Vision as the EMR provider of choice for private duty operations in its Encompass Pediatric Services Division.

The company division provides private duty home care services to Texas- and Kansas-based children with a wide range of serious health issues that require ongoing in-home treatment.

Encompass Pediatrics will implement the Vision platform, which includes the HealthMEDX Mobile View point-of-care solution for clinicians serving private duty home care patients. Vision’s back-office functionality will help manage the complex web of billing, reimbursement and other financial aspects of Encompass’s pediatric operations.

The company recognized the need to automate, streamline and improve the overall quality of its clinical and financial operations within its pediatric division, including enhanced documentation, care planning, reporting and financial functions. Additionally, unique Texas regulations now require the use of a state-mandated telephony vendor for documentation of the thousands of pediatric home care visits completed annually by Encompass field clinicians.

Along with external challenges, Encompass’s business model called for an EMR implementation strategy that could meet their scalable size and scope requirements, both current and future.

In selecting Vision as their software platform for pediatrics, Encompass joins a growing national list of HealthMEDX home care customers in the Private Duty sector, including other organizations looking to automate and connect their home care operations across varied locations and care settings.

ABILITY Network to Help Home Health Agencies Eliminate CMS OASIS Rejections

Health care technology company ABILITY Network has launched a new service designed to help home health agencies increase the accuracy of the Outcome Assessment Information Set (OASIS), a key tool in the Medicare reimbursement process.

The OASIS data collection form is used by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to ensure standards of quality care and outcomes as provided by home health agencies. An OASIS form with errors can delay or lose Medicare reimbursement if it fails to accurately reflect services an agency has provided.

“The ABILITY | OPTIMIZE OASIS service detects errors associated with coding and plan of care inclusions and guides the home health agency to ensure the OASIS data set correctly reflects the services rendered and patient status,” said Bud Meadows, executive vice president of ABILITY Network.

The tool uses CMS requirements, clinical processes, coding, outcome requirements and best practices to create rules that spot errors and inaccuracies in the OASIS form.

A simple and intuitive user interface allows the home health provider to upload OASIS files, quickly sort analyzed assessments by inconsistency type, and view analysis results on a patient-by-patient basis, prior to submission to CMS.

The ABILITY service is designed to help home health agencies significantly reduce the amount of time spent validating the accuracy of OASIS forms, allowing for more time spent on patient care and staff education.

The Ensign Group Acquires Hospice Agency in California

The Ensign Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENSG) — the parent company of the Ensign group of skilled nursing, rehabilitative care services, home health care, hospice care, assisted living and urgent care companies — announced recently that Cornerstone Healthcare, Inc., Ensign’s home health and hospice portfolio subsidiary, had acquired Buena Vista Hospice, a Medicare and Medi-Cal certified hospice agency serving the Ventura County area from an office in Westlake Village, Calif. The acquisition was effective July 1, 2015.

“We are pleased to announce this new addition to our hospice operations,” said Christopher Christensen, Ensign’s president and CEO. “Ensign has a strong presence in Ventura County, and the acquisition of Buena Vista showcases our commitment the area and our desire to build a post-acute continuum of care that will truly meet the needs of this strategic market.”

Cornerstone President and CEO Daniel Walker said he expects the operations to be accretive to earnings in 2015. With the acquisition, Cornerstone now owns 14 hospice operations, 14 home health operations and three home care operations in nine western states.

National HealthCare Corporation to Deploy LG CNS Solutions Across the Continuum

Collain Healthcare, an LG CNS Company, and National HealthCare Corporation have announced the deployment of LG CNS’ Electronic Health Record (EHR) solution for the company’s skilled nursing operations.

LG CNS is also collaborating with National HealthCare (NHC) for the deployment of an integrated EHR for its home care operations. LG CNS Population Health Cloud will also be implemented to improve coordination of care, streamline care transitions with referring partners, as well as contribute to goals for population health management across regional markets.

Telemedicine, Electronic Health Records, and the Point of Care Solution (POCS) smart mobile platform from LG CNS will be deployed across service lines. The LG CNS Population Health Cloud will unify the following in a single system: a longitudinal patient record repository, Health Information Exchange (HIE), call center integration, case management, alerts/notifications, nurse triage, telemedicine, claims integration, analytics and more. 

Written by Emily Study

The post Home Health Business Briefs: Encompass, Ensign Group appeared first on Home Health Care News.

The civil settlement, announced by Josh J. Minkler, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, will result in a total payment of $1.5 million to the United States and the state of Indiana.

In 2012, the Department of Health and Human Services – Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG) and the State of Indiana Attorney General’s Office Medicaid Fraud Control Unit began investigating a complaint that United was billing for services that it did not actually provide, the Department of Justice (DOJ) reports.

Agents and investigators with HHS and the Indiana Attorney General’s Office interviewed patients and former employees, and reviewed multiple patient files, which showed that from 2012 through 2014, United had engaged in a pattern of overfilling services, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Shelese Woods.

Specifically, the patient files and corresponding billing data showed that many services billed for personal care and attendant care services were not documented; that there were dates for which United was reimbursed where the patient file showed that the patient did not receive the service; or that United over-billed the number of service hours actually provided to the patient, according to the DOJ.

Under the False Claims Act, the government may collect three times the loss it incurred, plus a fine of $5,500 to $11,000 for each false bill submitted. The estimated loss to the Medicaid program was $589,042.60 for thousands of individual claims, Woods said. United is paying $1.45 million to the United States, which is more than two times the estimated loss. United has also agreed to pay more than $45,000 to the state of Indiana for its investigative fees and costs.

Though it agreed to these terms, United denied all liability under the False Claims Act.

“The civil False Claims Act was created to serve as a tool for combating fraud, waste and abuse in federally funded programs,” Minkler said in a statement.  “A financial injury to the United States is a financial injury to all of us. This recovery sends the message that health care providers must comply with various applicable state and federal regulations when billing the United States Government for services, or they will face consequences.”

Written by Emily Study

The post Indiana Home Health Companies to Pay $1.5 Million in Fraud Settlement appeared first on Home Health Care News.

Home Care Institute and iTacit Healthcare Announce Strategic Partnership

Boston-based iTacit Healthcare and Johns Creek, Georgia-based Home Care Institute (HCI) recently announced a collaboration that will combine HCI’s education content for home care and hospice with iTacit’s compliance, training and connectivity software.

Both companies are committed to leveraging technology to cost-effectively support the training and education needs of a mobile health care workforce, they said in a statement.

HCI is a provider of education for the home health and hospice industries. It provides a comprehensive library of online training courses and resources for hundreds of organizations and thousands of end-users in all 50 states and Canada.

“We were looking for a technology partner who could take our services to the next level,” said Lu Post, president of HCI. “iTacit is so much more than just another learning management system. They have one of the best platforms I’ve seen in my 25-plus years in this business.”

iTacit’s communication technology connects a mobile and disconnected workforce to an agency’s culture and management expectations. Organizations can spread critical and time-sensitive messages to employees wherever and whenever they are working.

“We are excited to be collaborating with a leader in the home care education field,” said Mike Sandrock, COO of iTacit Healthcare. “iTacit is an ideal fit for the home care and hospice industries, as our software brings accountability, visibility and connectivity — all critical features when managing a mobile workforce.”

The partnership will extend iTacit’s presence in the U.S. home care and hospice sector. iTacit’s current customers will also benefit by having access to HCI’s library of course content.

B. E. Smith Expands Into Post-Acute Care

B. E. Smith, a full-service leadership solutions firm dedicated exclusively to health care providers, recently announced an expansion into post-acute care.

Specifically, B. E. Smith is placing increased focus on meeting the leadership needs of inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation facilities, long-term acute care hospitals (LTAC/LTCH), skilled nursing centers, as well as home health and hospice agencies.

“As the experts in health care recruitment, B. E. Smith is the only leadership solutions firm capable of bringing the resources and expertise necessary to meet the immediate needs of post-acute organizations,” said Doug Smith, president and CEO. “Recent estimates show post-acute care facing a shortage of 2.5 million workers by 2030. Our success and proven results in interim and permanent recruitment within the acute and post-acute care market position us well to meet the increasing leadership needs of providers in the post-acute space.”

Medical Guardian Selects Essence Care@Home as New Monitoring Service

Medical Guardian, a provider of medical alert services, has selected Essence’s Care@Home personal emergency response system (PERS) solution for its new monitoring service. Essence is a provider of IoT, cloud-based connected-living solutions.

Essence has made a strong push into the home health care market over the last few years with Care@Home. Care@Home PERS is a comprehensive, active system that includes a panic button and a wearable pendant. It allows service providers to offer a customizable and upgradable PERS solution to their home care customers.

“As a national company, a big part of what we do is look for unique solutions that are technologically superior to those currently available in the market to provide the best services to our clients and maintain a strong competitive edge,” said Geoff Gross, CEO of Medical Guardian. “Partnering with Essence checks all our boxes. We serve the largest polyglot society in the world, the ultimate melting pot, and the multilingual features will drive us into new markets and provide peace of mind for seniors.”

Forcura to Implement Paperless Back-Office Workflow for Homecare Homebase Customers

Forcura, a document workflow solution provider, has announced integration with Homecare Homebase that will allow users to benefit from a paperless document workflow, tracking and communication system across their organization.

“We are extremely excited to provide world-class document workflow solutions to Homecare Homebase customers,” said Craig Mandeville, CEO and founder of Forcura. “The integration allows agencies to implement paperless document workflows, automate the check-in process, and provide a one-click automation of attaching documents directly to the patient chart. All of this allows the agency to focus more time on patient care.”

Forcura is currently working with Sta-Home Health & Hospice, Mississippi’s largest home health agency, to deploy the integrated Forcura solution to automate document processes and improve compliance throughout the organization.

Forcura’s auto-scanning engine allows agencies to quickly organize documents, create a custom workflow and seamlessly attach to the patient chart within Homecare Homebase.

In addition, paper-heavy processes outside of Homecare Homebase, like scanning and manual intake steps, are automated with the addition of Forcura’s integrated document workflow software allowing agencies to go 100% paperless.

Written by Emily Study

The post Home Health Business Briefs: Forcura, Home Care Institute appeared first on Home Health Care News.

Home Health Providers Nabbed in Historic, $712 Million Fraud Takedown — In an action that’s been deemed the “largest criminal health care fraud takedown” in the Department of Justice’s history, 243 individuals — including home health care providers — have been charged for their participation in schemes involving approximately $712 million in false billings.

Home Care Workers Win $15 Minimum Wage in Massachusetts — Home care workers have scored a major victory in a national fight to raise their pay, as Massachusetts has become the first state to enact a $15 per hour minimum starting wage. The announcement came Thursday, following months of negotiations between the union representing home care workers and the administration of recently elected Gov. Charlie Baker (R).

Angie’s List Emerging as Home Care Review Hotspot — Home health care is one of the fastest-growing categories on Angie’s List, a company representative recently told The Columbus Dispatch. And Ohio, in particular, could emerge as a leading market for home care reviews, given that one parent in a Columbus suburb is urging area families to post reviews on the website.

NAHC: Supreme Court Ruling Prevents ‘Wholesale Chaos’ in Health Care

Val J. Halamandaris, president and CEO of the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC), released a statement Thursday in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling in King v. Burwell, which upheld subsidies under the Affordable Care Act for individuals who acquire health insurance through a federal exchange.

“Today’s ruling is the best possible result we could have reasonably expected,” Halamandaris wrote in the statement. “Any other result would have led to wholesale chaos for the health care system with people across the country being denied their benefits. The Court’s ruling essentially amounts to a ceasefire in the repeal effort.”

Stat of the Week

Genworth Estimates Home Care to Cost $45,000 Annually — The average cost for homemaker services in the U.S. is $44,616 per year, while home health aide services tick up to $45,760 annually, according to the Genworth 2015 Cost of Care Survey. North Dakota has the highest price tag in both categories at $59,854 and $62,142, respectively.

Written by Emily Study

The post Editor’s Picks: Historic Fraud Takedown, Major Victory in ‘Fight For $15’ appeared first on Home Health Care News.

Rose Umana, the midstate agency owner, pleaded guilty to counts of making false statements on health care matters, executing financial transactions involving criminally derived property, and identity theft — crimes that carry a possible prison term of up to 30 years. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Fawcett said Umana created false identification for employees, including those not certified to provide services for which Vision Healthcare received federal reimbursements, according to PennLive. Falsified documents and fraudulent billing records were also recovered during a search of the business, Fawcett said, noting that Umana submitted billings to Medicare that showed workers performing multiple services for several clients simultaneously in different locations. 

While the plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office cut the number of charges against Umana from scores to just three, it also called for her to forfeit more than $656,000. U.S. Middle District Senior Judge Sylvia H. Rambo will sentence Umana later this year, as the plea agreement contained no sentencing deal. 

To read the full story on PennLive, click here. 

Written by Emily Study

The post Deal Struck in $1 Million Home Health Fraud Case appeared first on Home Health Care News.

Medalogix Partners with Homecare Homebase

Nashville-based health care analytics company Medalogix announced today its new partnership with Homecare Homebase, a home health electronic medical record (EMR) software company. The partnership expands Medalogix’s reach in the home health market.

The Medalogix integration will equip care providers with analytics to more accurately identify patients who are most at risk of transferring off census, or who would benefit from an additional care episode or hospice care. Medalogix then facilitates action and improvement by incorporating clinical workflow steps and business intelligence reports into Homecare Homebase, equipping providers with a population health management technology solution.

“With the focus continuing to shift toward bundles and other shared-risk partnerships, our integration with Medalogix will significantly enhance our clients’ ability to accurately identify and remediate risk for their patients,” said Tom Maxwell, chief strategy officer of Homecare Homebase. “Ultimately this will help clients better meet the needs of the changing health care system.”

New Deal Brings Home Health to Village Health Partners

Plano, Texas-based Village Health Partners has announced a deal with The Legacy at Home, bringing home health services to its patient pool of 75,000 residents, according to a local report. 

Legacy at Home is a home health care agency also based in Plano. Under the arrangement, Legacy at Home will relocate its headquarters to the Independence Medical Village in Plano.

AmeriCare Acquisition Leads to Home Health Expansion

Jacksonville, Florida-based Brooks Rehabilitation’s home health care division will soon become Brooks AmeriCare Home Health with the acquisition of AmeriCare Home Health, an agency serving 23 counties in Northeast and Central Florida, according to a report by the Jacksonville Business Journal. 

Brooks Rehabilitation will absorb AmeriCare Home Health and its assets, which includes 10 satellite office locations. The purchase is expected to close in July. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

U.P. Home Health & Hospice CEO Steps Down After 7 Years at Helm

Jeff Nyquist, the CEO of Upper Peninsula Home Health & Hospice (UPHHH), based in Michigan, is stepping down as CEO to devote his efforts to his company NeuroTrainerTM, according to local reports. 

“This is truly one of the toughest decisions I have had to make,” Nyquist said. “The mission and people of UPHHH are so inspiring. Leading this very special group has been the honor of a lifetime. UPHHH is one of the top-performing agencies in the nation in terms of quality and patient satisfaction and I am so proud of every single person here. They are heroes to so many in our community.”

NeuroTrainerTM is a startup that Nyquist has been working on for a number of years and is an extension of his doctoral and post-doc research at Vanderbilt University, where he discovered a technique to enhance visual functioning in blind children, according to Upper Michigan Source.

Susan Lubke Appointed Chief Marketing Officer of @home approach

Pennsylvania-based “@home approach,” a family of companies that provide a range of senior services, including home care and senior living, has announced the appointment of Susan Lubke to the position of chief marketing officer.

In her new role, Lubke will lead the development and implementation of a fully integrated marketing strategy for all the @home approach senior living communities. She will assume responsibility for the company’s sales, sales training, marketing functions, market research, business planning, branding, social media and product planning. Lubke will also be involved in new business development.

For the last sixteen years, Lubke has worked in the senior housing industry on both the West and the East coasts in key management positions including vice president of sales and training, regional director of sales and marketing, regional director of operations, executive director and marketing director.

Encompass Home Health Nabs Spot on Fortune’s Best Workplaces List

Among Fortune’s list of the 100 Best Workplaces for Millennials is a member of the home health community: Encompass Home Health, which was ranked 55th in the list for a number of reasons, including its flexibility, work-life balance and friendly atmosphere. 

The Dallas, Texas-based home health provider boasts a workforce comprised of mostly female executives (77%) and employees (81%), and attracts millennials, who make up nearly a quarter of the company’s workforce.

“Encompass is different from most companies on this list because the majority of employees don’t work in the same place – they work in patients’ homes to deliver care,” Fortune writes. “Even with the wide variety of settings where employees work, 96% described their environments as consistently friendly.”

Additionally, work-life balance is encouraged at Encompass, with 30 days of paid time off each year and flexible scheduling options. 

Home Care, Senior Services Organizations Merge to Expand Reach

Methodist Senior Home Care, a division of Chicagoland Methodist Senior Services (CMSS), and Services for Adults Staying in Their Homes (SASI) announced recently that they have brought their two organizations together as one.

The alignment of the two organizations represents their joint desire to continue to provide excellent, personalized and affordable home care for older adults.

Founded in 1975 in Evanston, SASI has been providing high-quality care for seniors and other adults, who, due to aging, illness or injury, need assistance to be safe and comfortable at home.

CMSS, a network of senior services on Chicago’s north side, offers services ranging from supportive living to skilled nursing, and shares SASI’s commitment to helping older adults age with comfort, dignity and respect. CMSS’ Methodist Senior Home Care will no longer exist and will become SASI.

“The alignment with CMSS’ Methodist Senior Home Care will allow us to expand our reach and help even more Chicago-area older adults to stay in their homes,” said Jeanie Ramsey, executive director of SASI. “CMSS and SASI share a similar mission to help older adults thrive as they age, and I am confident that this relationship will help us expand that mission to impact even more people.”

The newly joined organization will continue to serve existing home care clients while positioning itself to expand its reach.

“This alignment will not only allow us to continue to offer high-quality home care to older adults who want to stay in their homes, but will also help us keep fees low for both the older adults who need our services and their families,” said Bill Lowe, president of CMSS. “SASI has an impeccable reputation in the home care industry, and there is no better organization with whom we could partner.” 

Written by Emily Study

The post Home Health Business Briefs: Encompass Home Health, AmeriCare, Medalogix appeared first on Home Health Care News.

The defendants are charged with various health care fraud-related crimes, including conspiracy to commit health care fraud, violations of the anti-kickback statutes, money laundering and aggravated identity theft, the DOJ announced Thursday.

The charges are based on a variety of alleged fraud schemes involving various medical treatments and services, including home health care, psychotherapy, physical and occupational therapy, durable medical equipment (DME) and pharmacy fraud. One of the alleged home health conspiracies took place in the Dallas-Forth Worth area between 2009 and 2013, according to charges. It involved more than $40 million in fraudulent Medicare payments, due to overbilling for physician home visits and other practices, the authorities contend.

“This action represents the largest criminal health care fraud takedown in the history of the Department of Justice, and it adds to an already remarkable record of enforcement,” said Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch, in a statement. “The defendants charged include doctors, patient recruiters, home health care providers, pharmacy owners, and others. They billed for equipment that wasn’t provided, for care that wasn’t needed, and for services that weren’t rendered.”

In many cases, patient recruiters, Medicare beneficiaries and other co-conspirators allegedly were paid cash kickbacks in return for supplying beneficiary information to providers, so that the providers could then submit fraudulent bills to Medicare for services that were medically unnecessary or never performed.

Collectively, the doctors, nurses, licensed medical professionals, health care company owners and others charged are accused of conspiring to submit a total of approximately $712 million in fraudulent billing, the DOJ reports.

“Health care fraud drives up health care costs, wastes taxpayer money, undermines the Medicare and Medicaid programs, and endangers program beneficiaries,” said Inspector General Daniel R. Levinson of the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “This record-setting takedown sends a message to would-be perpetrators that health care fraud is a risky way to line your pockets. Our agents and our law enforcement partners stand ready to protect these vital programs and ensure that those who would steal from federal health care programs ultimately pay for their crimes.”

Written by Emily Study

The post Home Health Providers Nabbed in Historic, $712 Million Fraud Takedown appeared first on Home Health Care News.

That day, Los Angeles County supervisors voted to raise the wage of about 140,000 home health care workers paid through a state program partially funded by the county, according to a report by the LA Times.

Over the next year and a half, their pay will go from $9.65 an hour to $11.18 — a bump in the right direction toward the $15 hourly wage home care workers nationwide have been fighting for. 

“The vote … could foreshadow the outcome of a pending proposal by Supervisor Sheila Kuehl to follow the city of Los Angeles’ lead and raise the minimum wage for county workers and those laboring in unincorporated areas from $9 to $15 by 2020,” the article states. 

However, Tuesday’s approved proposal by Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas and Supervisor Hilda Solis will increase home care workers’ pay on a faster timeline than the proposed increases in the minimum wage. 

Ridley-Thomas and Solis said their intent was to put the home care workers on a “path to $15,” according to the LA Times. 

To read the full LA Times article, click here. 

Written by Emily Study

The post LA County Puts Home Care Workers on ‘Path to $15’ appeared first on Home Health Care News.