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HR 3322/S 826—The Medicare Patient Empowerment Act of 2021
WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 31, 2022)—The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a proposed rule (CMS1773-P) that would provide routine updates to hospice based payments and the aggregate cap amount for fiscal year (FY) 2023 in accordance with existing statutory and regulatory requirements. This rule proposes to establish a permanent mitigation policy to smooth the impact of year-to-year changes in hospice payments related to changes in the hospice wage index.
BERKELEY HEIGHTS, N.J. (March 31, 2022)—Viventium, a SaaS-based human capital management solution that provides a remarkable user experience and award-winning software, and Right at Home, an in-home care franchise group, announced a strategic partnership.
ATLANTA (March 31, 2022)—Trella Health, a source of health care growth insights and performance analytics, announced the release of its 2021 Post-Acute Care Industry Trend Report. Each year, Trella releases this report to reflect the most significant trends impacting the post-acute industry today. Key topics addressed include Medicare Advantage enrollment, inpatient discharges, home health adherence, hospice utilization, skilled nursing admissions, telehealth utilization and NPI closures.
CHICAGO (March 31 2022)—The Vistria Group announced its investment in Professional Health Care Network (PHCN), a home health care management services company that partners with health plans and providers to increase the access and value of home-based clinical care. The transaction with PHCN represents the fifth investment from Vistria Fund IV, a $2.68 billion fund.
RICHMOND, Va. (March 31, 2022)—Owens & Minor, Inc., a global health care solutions company, announced that it has closed the previously announced acquisition of Apria, Inc. The acquisition was consummated for total consideration in cash of approximately $1.6 billion. The purchase was funded with a combination of debt and cash on hand.
BOSTON (March 29, 2022)—Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced that home health agency Compassionate Homecare, Inc. has agreed to pay $6.53 million to MassHealth to resolve allegations that it billed MassHealth for services that were not authorized by a physician. In addition, up to $375,000 will be set aside for payment of unpaid wages for former Compassionate employees.
AUSTIN, Texas, (March 29, 2022)—CareFlash and Snowline Hospice announced that the organizations have entered into a collaborative partnership that leverages togetherness, empathy and nostalgia to enhance healing and aging journeys, chronic and cognitive illness, even in celebrating a loved one's memory. This agreement provides patients, families and communities access to CareFlash's signature platform, "The Careopolis, A Metropolis of Love and Empathy."
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. and LAFAYETTE, La. (March 29, 2022)—UnitedHealth Group has announced plans to acquire LHC Group, a national patient-focused provider of high-quality in-home health care services for about $5.4 billion cash value. The acquisition plan calls for LHC Group to combine with Optum Health, an information and technology-enabled health services business. The agreement calls for the acquisition of LHC Group’s outstanding common stock for $170 per share.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 25, 2022)—The bipartisan Hospital Inpatient Services Modernization Act is new legislation introduced in both the Senate and House of Representatives that would extend the acute care hospital at home waiver program. Initially introduced in November 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), the program provides an alternative setting of care for certain conditions, such as asthma, pneumonia and COPD.
SKILLMAN, N.J. (March 24, 2022)—Curasev, a provider of electronic medical record (EMR) solutions for durable medical equipment (DME), home medical equipment (HME) and home health providers, will be launching its academy-style training videos and integration with CardConnect at the Medtrade West 2022 show.
With the planned launch of the academy-style training videos, Curasev seeks to make it easier for HME and DME suppliers to transition from legacy systems.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 24, 2022)—In a letter urging Congressional leaders to stave off a financial calamity that could harm older adults, Katie Smith Sloan, president and CEO of LeadingAge, the association of nonprofit providers of aging services, called for the continuation of the Medicare “sequestration holiday”—as well as continued and expanded Provider Relief Funds (PRF) to support aging services providers hard hit by continued COVID-19-related expenses.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 22, 2022)—The National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) and a coalition of long-term and post-acute care (LTPAC) and health information technology (HIT) groups have submitted comments to an important congressional task force exploring ways to accelerate innovation in the health care system.
ALBANY, N.Y. (March 22, 2022)—Seven New York state homecare providers have filed suit against the United States’ Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the New York equivalent Department of Health (NYDOH). The suit, filed late last week, alleges inequitable and arbitrary disbursement of funds provided by the American Rescue Plan.
WALTHAM & CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (March 22, 2022)—Fresenius Medical Care, a provider of products and services for individuals with kidney diseases, InterWell Health, a physician organization driving innovation in the kidney care industry, and Cricket Health, a provider of value-based kidney care with an industry-leading patient engagement and data platform, announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement to create an independent new company.
LIBERTY LAKE, Wash. (March 22, 2022)—Family Resource Home Care announced that it has received nine Best of Home Care Awards from the annual Home Care Pulse report that honors agencies that achieve best-in-class client and caregiver satisfaction scores in the Provider of Choice and Employer of Choice category from Home Care Pulse. These awards are granted only to the top-ranking homecare providers, based on caregiver satisfaction scores gathered by Home Care Pulse.
SCHAUMBURG, Ill. (March 22, 2022)—Complia Health, a home health and hospice technology solutions provider, announced today the launch of EMMA (Electronic Medical Management Assistant), which leverages artificial intelligence to automate time consuming daily tasks and enable care agencies to increase productivity.
STEVENS POINT, Wis. (March 18, 2022)—Perceptive Solutions, Inc., maker of WoundZoom Digital Wound Management, has announced the expanded functionality and benefits of their WoundZoom Mobile application with auto-border wound detection technology among the primary solution developments. These expanded capabilities create further workflow efficiencies for healthcare providers that measure, document and treat wounds.