WASHINGTON, D.C. (January 17, 2020)—Bipartisan leadership of the Senate Finance Committee has announced proposed legislation providing for the extension of several programs within Medicare and Medicaid. Commonly referred to as an “extenders package” the legislation provides for the continuation of programs that are currently on track to exhaust their current funding allocation.
home health
SUNRISE, Fla. (January 14, 2020)—Interim HealthCare Inc., a franchise network of owners providing homecare, senior care, hospice and health care staffing services, announced Minda Papson, occupational therapist, as the 2019 Therapist of the Year. Papson has been with Interim HealthCare of Lafayette, Colorado for six years.
DALLAS (January 13, 2020)—A new industry trends report from Axxess, a home health care technology company, and BKD, a national CPA and advisory firm, confirms concern among the home-based care industry regarding implementation of the new Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) and other regulatory changes, as well as ongoing staffing challenges.
Common compliance problems & how to fix them
WASHINGTON, D.C. (January 8, 2019)—The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is accepting applications for a technical expert panel (TEP) to develop functional outcome quality measures for the home health setting.
The TEP nomination period closes on Jan. 17, 2020.
Project Overview:
Growing jobs, reducing costs & meeting needs
SHOREVIEW, Minn. (January 8, 2020)—Muse Healthcare announced the launch of its advanced machine learning technology for hospice providers. The solution analyzes hundreds of thousands of data points from millions of visits, vital signs, orders and more to identify which hospice patients are most likely to transition within seven to 12 days.
ROSEVILLE, Minn. (January 7, 2020)—Pediatric Home Service (PHS), an independent comprehensive homecare provider, is proud to announce a new partnership with The Care Group, a specialty group providing respiratory care and enteral nutrition to patients in Houston and Dallas, Texas.
DETROIT (January 2, 2020)—ComForCare Home Care, a franchised provider of in-home caregiving services, announced their Caregiver of the Year at the company’s national conference. Beth Trivett, a ComForCare caregiver in Hendersonville, Tennessee, was awarded the 2019 Caregiver of the Year from more than 125 nominations.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (December 11, 2019)—Local entrepreneurs looking to run a business that makes a difference in the lives of North Carolina families have to look no further. BrightStar Care, a national franchise specializing in providing A Higher Standard of Care in medical and non-medical in-home care services, has announced plans to add 15 franchise territories throughout North Carolina, and is seeking qualified franchise partners to operate in each market.
The Barton Transfer Chair makes a difference in caregiver capability & safety
WASHINGTON, D.C. (December 3, 2019)—In mid-November, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-Massachusetts) and Ranking Member Kevin Brady (R-Texas) announced a Request for Information (RFI) soliciting input to inform the Rural and Underserved Communities Health Task Force as it works to develop bipartisan legislation to improve health care outcomes within underserved communities.
SUNRISE, Fla. (December 3, 2019)—Interim HealthCare Inc., a national franchiser of homecare, hospice and health care staffing, is a silver winner of the 2019 Workforce: Optimas Awards. Selected for its multi-pronged approach to building a strong workforce. Interim HealthCare’s commitment to this initiative is first and foremost to help combat the nation’s caregiver shortage. By 2025, the United States will need to hire 2.5 million new health care workers to care for its aging population.
A therapist checklist for ensuring safe dosing & adherence
WASHINGTON, D.C. (November 26, 2019)—The National Quality Forum (NQF) recently posted the list of Measures Under Consideration (MUC) for future use in the hospice quality reporting program (HQRP) and the home health quality reporting program (HHQRP). The list is released annually, and there is an opportunity for stakeholder comment. In fact, comments were due Nov. 25, 2019.
Help patients regain confidence with better care
ATLANTA (November 21, 2019)—Trella Health, a source for current and complete post-acute outcomes data and performance analytics, published its most recent Industry Trend Report and released a new quarterly data set. Trella customers now have access to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) claims data through the second quarter of 2019.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (November 20, 2019)—The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued Change Request (CR) 11527, which includes further updates to the Claims Processing Manual, chapter 10, related to the Patient Driven Groupings Model (PDGM).
BOSTON and SYDNEY (November 19, 2019)—Orbita, the provider of a health care conversational artificial intelligence (AI) platform, announced that it is now offering OrbitaASSIST, an award-winning, voice-enabled, AI-driven bedside virtual health assistant.