Casamba Releases Results of PDGM Readiness Survey

AGOURA HILLS, Calif. (May 8, 2019)—With just under than eight months until the rollout of the Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM), a recent survey of homecare and hospice leadership found a lot of work needs to be done to get clinical staff up to speed on this new payment system. The results also showed a strong desire for refinement of certain aspects of PDGM itself, something that is currently being considered in the United States Senate.

According to the survey conducted by Casamba between April 30 and May 3, less than 33% felt their staff was adequately prepared for PDGM. When asked to respond to “My staff understands the elements of PDGM to be implemented on January 1, 2020,” only 3% said “Strongly Agree” while just over 29% said “Agree.” When asked of their own understanding, more than 80% of these same respondents either agreed (50%) or strongly agreed (31%), almost 2.5 times that of their staff. 

“Much work needs to be done in a relatively short period of time to ensure clinicians are up to speed on the regulatory changes going forward,” said Billie Nutter, president of Casamba. “What’s encouraging is that leadership believes they have a strong knowledge base to leverage to help prepare their staff. Using that understanding to educate practitioners will be critical during this transition to PDGM.”

Casamba, a provider of electronic medical record (EMR) solutions for home health agencies, outpatient therapy, skilled nursing facilities and contract therapy providers, also asked about other topics that have been the talk of the industry as PDGM nears. 

With a bi-partisan group of lawmakers including Senators Susan Collins (R-ME), Rand Paul (R-KY) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) sponsoring/co-sponsoring a PDGM refinement bill, Casamba asked which elements of the payment model they would like to see changed. More than 75 percent (76.4%) of respondents said they’d like to see “Elimination of behavioral adjustment(s) that decrease rates.” Greater than 50% of those surveyed also said they’d like to see “Consideration of additional clinical information from the OASIS in PDGM classification methodology” (52.7%), “Clarification of the transition to PDGM for patient episodes that begin in 2019 and continue into 2020” (50.9%) and “The definition of ‘eligibility’ for home health” (50.9%).

“PDGM may face some adjustments as we head toward the go-live date. While there may be several items for legislators to consider, the executives we surveyed were definitive in their preference,” Nutter added. 

The company also asked “Do you think that payment reform jeopardizes patient choice and access to home health services in all markets?” When posed with that question, nearly half (49.1%) said “Yes,” with the remainder split between “No” (21.1%) and “Not Sure” (29.8%).

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