Access to Care at Home in Underserved Communities
CMS by Kristin Rowan, Editor The U.S. House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing on March 12, 2024 to address the need for access to care-at-home services in rural and underserved communities. The advisory board heard from several witnesses including two care at home...Onslaught of Audits Worries Hospice Providers
Clinical By Kristin Rowan, Editor March 12, 2024, the National Association for Home Care and Hospice (NAHC), Leading Age, the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO), and the National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI), published their...CMS Announces Multi-Pronged Effort to Strengthen Direct Care Workforce
Admin by Elizabeth E. Hogue, Esq., CMS recently issued guidance about how to build and maintain worker registries, i.e., management platforms, that make qualified health workers easy to find so that more individuals who receive Medicaid-covered home and community-based...Cyberattack Interrupts Pharmacy Operations
Admin By Kristin Rowan, Editor **March 6, 2024 Update** As the previously reported cyberattack on Change Healthcare continues, the US Department of Health and Human Services issued a statement on March 5, 2024 outlining immediate steps CMS is taking to assist providers. CMS...Family Caregiver Tax Credit Bill
CMS By Kristin Rowan, Editor Republican and Democratic leaders joined forces to introduce the Credit for Caring Act (S. 3702, H.R. 7165) in support of family caregivers across the country. Family caregivers are those who are caring for a family member but are not nurses...NAHC Fights for Home Health on Capitol Hill
Admin By Kristin Rowan, Editor The National Association for Home Care and Hospice joined other advocacy groups this month on Capitol Hill to fight against the looming pay cuts from CMS. Some members of Congress joined the fight for “common sense policies” to...Call to Action: Advocacy Is Everyone’s Responsibility
CMS by Tim Rowan, Editor Emeritus T he battle for stable Home Health reimbursement rates continues full speed ahead on Capitol Hill, but the advocacy organizations engaged on the front lines of that battle are losing ground. The Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare and...CMS Proposes Policy Changes to Medicare C & D
CMS From the NAHC Newsroom Public comments due January 5, 2024 CMS Policy Changes to Medicare C & D. On November 5, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the Contract Year 2025 Policy and Technical Changes to the Medicare Advantage...CMS is Already Hurting Home Care and Now MedPAC Wants to Make it Worse
CMS by Kristin Rowan, Editor Last week, MedPAC met for their December meeting to discuss “Assessing payment adequacy and updating payments.” Hospice services and Home health care services were each presented separately to Congress and commissioners are set to...Medicare Advantage Dominated November News
CMS by Tim Rowan, Editor Emeritus MA Plans Continue to Exaggerate Patient Conditions for Profit As we reported in October (More MA Plans Caught Inflating Patient Assessments, 10/11/23), insurance companies operating Medicare Advantage plans routinely pad the patient...OIG Crackdown on Employees Ineligible to Work for Medicare
CMS Dear Friends, I have some news that may be upsetting. Frankly, that is my intention, to frighten you into action. In August, a Home Health provider in New York paid an $$866,339.25 fine for violating the “Civil Monetary Penalties Law.”* The Chinese-American...CMS Issues Final Rule for 2024 with Drastic Pay Cut
CMS By Kristin Rowan, Editor On November 1, CMS issued its Home Health Final Rule for CY 2024. As expected, the final rule includes drastic pay cuts to Medicare home health services payments. The original proposed rule issued earlier this year included a 5.653% rate...EEOC Sues Licensed Home Care Agency for Discrimination
CMS by Tim Rowan, Editor Home Care Agency Removed Black and Hispanic Home Health Aides from Assignments to Accommodate Racial Preferences of Clients, Federal Agency Charges There is a question that appears on social media chat pages with great regularity. What does a home...
