HomeCare Editors’ Top 5: Week of June 16
Study Finds Hospitals Discharge Patients to Maximize Medicare Payments
Long-term-care hospitals discharge a disproportionately large share of Medicare patients during a window when they stand to make the most money from reimbursements under the federal program, according to a study in the journal Health Affairs. (Anna Wilde Mathews and Christopher Weaver/The Wall Street Journal)
Projected 2.5 Million More Home Care Workers Needed by 2030
As the nation’s senior population is projected to swell to enormous proportions in the coming years, the need for home care workers to serve this aging demographic will have to increase by the millions, a recent report portends. (Jason Oliva/Home Health Care News)
Try to avoid breaking any limbs in Crestview, Florida. You might wind up in North Okaloosa Medical Center, which charges 12.6 times, or 1,260 percent, more than what it costs the hospital to treat patients. (Olga Khazan/The Atlantic)
The health care industry added 46,800 jobs in May, nearly matching April’s largest monthly increase this year. The U.S. economy overall added 280,000 jobs—meaning about 1 in 6 were in health care—and the unemployment rate rose to 5.5 percent from 5.4 percent in April. Ambulatory care services, which includes home health care services and outpatient care centers, together generated approximately 27,600 jobs in May, a 16.9 percent jump from last month. (Michael Sandler/Modern Healthcare)
In another rebuke of the Obama administration’s efforts to expand health care to the uninsured, Florida’s Republican-led House of Representatives soundly rejected a plan on Friday that state officials said would have covered as many as 650,000 residents. (Nick Madigan/The New York Times)
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