Tag: home health

Home Health Agencies: Stay Compliant, Improve Outcomes, Control Costs with the NAHC Fall Forum

As home health care grows, it attracts increasing attention from regulators, which can be a big problem for any agency that does not stay up to date on all policy developments and how to adjust their business plan accordingly. That’s why the NAHC Fall Forum has devoted five hours on November 8 to providing you…

The Home Health Quality Reporting Program Part of the FY2022 Hospice Payment Rule

Don’t miss the NAHC webinar on the FY2022 Hospice Payment Rule! REGISTER NOW! To read the NAHC analysis of the FY2022 Hospice Payment Rule, GO HERE: CMS FY2022 Hospice Payment Rule Proposes Big Quality Reporting Program Changes Due to the importance of the FY2022 Hospice Payment Rule and the changes proposed within it, NAHC has scheduled a…

MedPAC Recommends Reducing Medicare Payment to Home Health Agencies

Earlier this week, as expected, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) March 2021 Report to Congress recommended a five percent reduction in payments to home health agencies (HHA) for calendar year 2022. The commissioners reported that the average Medicare profit margin in 2019 for HHAs was 15 percent and predicts a 14 percent profit margin…

MedPAC Recommends Home Health Rate Cut

During their recent January 14-15 meeting, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) recommended to Congress a five percent base rate cut for home health services. The recommendations follows the base rate discussions held during MedPAC’s previous meeting in December 2020.  Prior to the vote, commissioners received a presentation form MedPAC staff on the current state…

CMS Open Door Forum Addresses HIT, Home Health CAHPS and Claims Processing Issues

The January 26, 2021 the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) held a Home Health, Hospice, and DME (Durable Medical Equipment) Open Door Forum addressed several issues of interest to home health providers. A summary of the issues pertaining to home health are below. (Matters of interest for hospice providers were covered earlier this week…

CMS Open Door Form Focuses on Quality Reporting Programs

On December 16, 2020 the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) held a Home Health, Hospice & DME (Durable Medical Equipment) Open Door Forum (ODF).  The majority of the updates provided by CMS for home health and hospice were related to the respective quality reporting programs, and questions asked by participants surrounded the upcoming…

New Innovation Model Tests Flexibility in Home Health and Hospice Benefits

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced a new payment and care delivery model being tested by the CMS Innovation Center.  The Geographic Direct Contracting Model (also known as the “Model” or “Geo”) will test whether a geographic-based approach to value-based care can improve quality of care and reduce costs for Medicare beneficiaries…

Study: Medicare Home Health Benefit Not Sufficient to Meet Needs of Post-Acute Beneficiaries

Policy changes could increase value of home health benefit in COVID-19 era Home health care would be very effective providing services to Medicare beneficiaries, but the current design of the home health benefit is insufficient to meet the needs of post-acute beneficiaries, concludes a new study from the Commonwealth Fund. The report’s authors believe policy…

Reporting Requirements for Home Health & Hospice Affected by Hurricane Laura

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is granting exceptions under certain Medicare quality reporting and value-based purchasing programs to home health agencies located in areas affected by Hurricane Laura due to the devastating impact of the storm. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is granting exceptions under certain Medicare quality reporting…

Rise in Patients Discharged to Home Health

The percentage of patients discharged from short-term acute care hospitals (STACH) to home health has risen from 11 percent in May 2019 to 19 percent one calendar year later, according to a new report from ATI Advisory. The number of patients discharged from STACH declined from over 800,000 patients in May 2019 to 558,296 in…