Blogs

A think tank of post-acute care professionals met in California October 15-17, 2017. They were looking for solutions and support for their work challenges.

New rules, regulations, Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement and documentation pressures are already disrupting businesses as mission-critical clinicians anticipate the training and fulfillment needs and responsibilities that the changes will bring to their staffs. There’s much to be done in the administration and follow-through of home health and hospice care.

BID PROTESTS FOR NATONAL RAC CURRENTLY “DISMISSED”
Columbia, SC, April 9, 2015– In December of 2014, suppliers were alerted that the new national RAC contract for DMEPOS, Home Health and Hospice had been awarded to Connolly, LLC (currently serving as the Jurisdiction C RAC). However, a protest to dispute the contract was filed with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) by the current Jurisdiction A RAC, Performant Recovery Inc. This protest essentially stalled CMS from proceeding with next steps until a decision was reached by the GAO.

As Collette Weil's column in the April issue of HomeCare discusses, every brand should have a story. With each of your competitors selling the same products and utilizing the same tools, finding a way to stand out is increasingly important. Your brand's story is one of the most effective marketing tools you have, because it is unique.

From the CMS blog, Dr. Patrick Conway discusses The Next Generation ACO Model:

Building on the Success of the ACO Model

By Patrick Conway, M.D., deputy administrator for innovation and quality and chief medical officer, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

2015 has already been quite a year, both here at HomeCare and for our industry in general. We can’t wait to hop a plane, head to Vegas, see all of our friends and revel in the increasingly positive momentum! We will bring you more detailed information about the happenings at Medtrade Spring in a special edition of HomeCare Monday later this week, but we have already started making our “Must-See List,” and we thought we’d share just a bit with you.

In today's new environment, accountable care organizations (ACOs) are becoming more prevalent, as health care providers in all facets struggle to maintain the quality of care dictated by the Affordable Care Act. In this coming series, we will explore ACOs and how this new model can translate into opportunities for DME providers. We will also look at the changing fact of health care, and where everyone may need to position themselves for success. First, however, we wanted to start out with a few resources.

The following was released from AA Homecare as an update to their interactions with OIG.

WASHINGTON (Feb. 11, 2015)—Last Thursday, 11 AAHomecare staff members and industry stakeholders met with the HHS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) to discuss their upcoming study on the CMS competitive bidding program and the effects on patient access. The group discussed the goals for the OIG report as well as the methodology that has been used in previous reporting on access and utilization rates.

With registration for user IDs and passwords opening Dec. 18, 2014, the DMEPOS Round 2 Recompete and national mail-order recompete is well underway. CMS's target deadlines for authorized and backup authorized officials have passed, and the bid window opened on January 22. February and March, however, bring some very important dates.

Access Health, a new magazine-style health and wellness series, aired its second episode on Jan 14. Titled "Overcoming Inertia," the video discusses getting more comfortable with catheters, and features Dale Spencer, a spinal cord injured author/speaker and consultant for Hollister Incorporated and Mary Wisner, clinical education manager at Hollister. The guests speak with host Ereka Vetrini and medical expert Dr. Dennis R. Holmes about different types of intermittent catheters available, who may need to use an intermittent catheter and why.

The senior demographic is the largest in the U.S. and controls more that half of the country's wealth. Baby boomers have both the resources and the desire to stay in their homes as long as possible, in an attempt to gracefully transition into a new phase of life. Aging-in-place is not simply a buzzword; it is an important goal for many.