WASHINGTON—The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued its 2024 Home Health Prospective Payment System Rate Update final rule on Nov. 1, landing on more moderate cuts than initially proposed but still enacting rate reductions beginning in 2025 that would present “serious concerns for the home health community,” according to the National Association for Homecare and Hospice.
Home Health
Read the latest from HomeCare contributors on how to run your home health agency, whether you're providing skilled care and therapy, managing a care plan, working in the hospice field or supporting personal care.
DALLAS—Axxess and OnePoint Patient Care announced the integration of Axxess Hospice and OnePoint Patient Care's Pharmacy Benefit Management platform. Axxess said the integration will help alleviate administrative burdens, increase nurse satisfaction, improve retention rates and provide better patient outcomes.
FORT WORTH, Texas—VERTESS, a health care mergers and acquisitions (M&A) advisory firm, announced the closing of five major health care transactions in Quarter 3 (Q3) 2023 with a combined total transaction value of $75 million. The five transactions were in various health care verticals. The headwinds faced earlier in the year due to global and domestic economic pressures are clearing and signs for a profitable Q4 and 2024 are strong, VERTESS said.
DALLAS—Havencrest Capital Management (Havencrest), a Dallas-based health care private equity firm, announced the third acquisition under its Avid Health at Home (Avid) platform: Independence 4 Seniors (I4S), a Chicago-area homecare provider.
ATLANTA—TZMO USA announced that Christian DePhilippis and Sam Keller have joined their growing Seni sales team. DePhilippis has experience promoting advanced wound care products to hospitals, long-term care communities, home health agencies, hospice agencies and physician offices. DePhilippis will oversee the Southern California market.
NORTH HAVEN, Connecticut—Holly Haringa has joined Corcoran Consulting Group LLC as director of operations and consultant. She oversees the group’s marketing efforts, client and consultant coordination and administrative support functions. Additionally, Haringa will collaborate with Corcoran team members and support the goals of its homecare agency clients.
MOORESTOWN, New Jersey—David Baiada, CEO of BAYADA Home Health Care, has been elected to lead the board of directors of The Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare (PQHH). Baiada is assuming this role after serving as treasurer. BAYADA is a founding member of the partnership and an advocate for home health and home care patient populations.
PITTSBURGH—A federal court is requiring a Pittsburgh staffing agency and its owner to pay $208,044 in back wages and liquidated damages to 96 home health workers misclassified as independent contractors by the employer who, in turn, failed to pay them their full wages.
TROY, Michigan—Best Life Brands, LLC (“Best Life Brands”), a franchised organization that includes Blue Moon Estate Sales, CarePatrol, ComForCare, At Your Side Home Care and Boost Home Healthcare, announces the appointment of Kevin Vesely as its new chief financial officer. With an impressive track record of financial leadership and strategic accomplishments, Vesely brings a wealth of experience to Best Life Brands.
CINCINNATI, Ohio—FirstLight Home Care, a provider of homecare services, will open a new location in Alameda, California later this year. The office, which is set to open in December, will be owned and operated by Nicole Freeman.
Over the past 15 years, Freeman has contributed to the marketing efforts of several Fortune 500 companies. She is a marketing professional who holds a bachelor of arts degree from UC Berkeley, as well as an MBA from Georgetown University.
TEMPE, Arizona—SYNERGY HomeCare, an in-home care franchise, has launched its newest initiative—an all-encompassing disability care program in conjunction with October being National Disability Employment Awareness Month.
SECAUCUS, New Jersey—For the first time, people worried about their risk of Alzheimer’s disease can go online, order a blood test, and receive results in the privacy of their homes.
This might seem appealing on the surface, but the development has Alzheimer’s researchers and clinicians up in arms.
WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, has introduced the Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Relief Act to provide support to state programs that fund home- and community-based long-term care services.
WATERLOO, Iowa—VGM & Associates announced Mike "Ike" Isaacson has taken a new role as senior vice president of government relations. In this new role, he will focus on advocating for and elevating the durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics and supplies (DMEPOS) industry.
DENVER, Colorado – The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) elected AHCA’s Board of Governors and NCAL’s Board of Directors for the 2023/2024 term. Phil Scalo of New Jersey was elected as AHCA Chair, and Mark Maxfield of Idaho was elected as NCAL chair.
NORTH HAVEN, Connecticut—Corcoran Consulting Group LLC announced the addition of Guy Tommasi, an authority in the realm of private duty non-medical homecare, to its team of experts.
PHILADELPHIA—ACU-Serve Corp. (ACU-Serve or the company), a provider of end-to-end revenue cycle management, announced that it has received a majority growth investment from Lovell Minnick Partners LLC (LMP), a private equity firm focused on investments in financial services, business services and financial technology companies.
DALLAS—Havencrest Capital Management (Havencrest), a Dallas-based health care private equity firm, announced the second acquisition under its Avid Health at Home (Avid) platform: Well Care Home Care (WCHC), the home care division of North Carolina-based Well Care Health.
WASHINGTON, Maryland—The National Association for Home Care and Hospice (NAHC) and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) have laid out an “aggressive timeline” to possibly merge the two organizations and rebrand, NAHC President Bill Dombi said.
JACKSON, Michigan—Elara Caring, the full-scale, multi-state home health provider of clinical and personalized services across the patient continuum, has executed a lease on a new, state-o
SCOTTSDALE, Arizona—Executive Home Care, an in-home care provider with established operations up and down the East Coast, announced an expansion with the recent signing of franchises in Colorado, Florida and Maryland.