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| November 2, 2023 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 News UpdateThe U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its CY 2024 home health final payment rule Wednesday.
It comes with an estimated aggregate increase to 2024 home health payments of 0.8%, or $140 million, compared to 2023 aggregate payments. But that doesn’t tell the entire story, with sharp rate cuts also finalized.
“The $140 million increase in estimated payments for CY 2024 reflects the effects of the CY 2024 home health payment update percentage of 3.0% ($525 million increase), an estimated 2.6% decrease that reflects the effects of the permanent behavioral assumption adjustment ($455 million) and an estimated 0.4% increase that reflects the effects of an updated FDL ($70 million increase),” the final rule reads.
Source: Andrew Donlan, Home Health Care News, Nov. 1, 2023
 Last week, over 200 home care and hospice providers, business partners and expert speakers gathered at the Marriott Hartford Downtown to hear about Disruptive Innovation in Home Health, Hospice and Home Care.
The day kicked off with National Association for Home Care and Hospice President Bill Dombi who likened Home Care to climate change and weather predictions. While much of our horizon is sunny as we are the cost savings vehicle in healthcare, we also face some difficult storms ahead with proposed Medicare home health cuts, enhanced Hospice oversight and scrutiny, and underfunding of personal care. Mr. Dombi urged all to be more vocal and to advocate with both your state and federal leaders.
Following the opening keynote was a thought-provoking presentation on technology and leadership by Cindy Campbell from WellSky. We also heard from Nick Fisher (MissionCare) on the drivers of personal care workers learning to understand what’s important to them and why they do the work they do. This, in turn, should drive scheduling, recognition, engagement and ultimately retention.
We had three valuable breakouts touching on all three areas of home care: Hospice Analytics, Interdisciplinary Care Teams in Home Health, and a comprehensive Legislative Update impacting primarily non-medical home care services.
The day was capped off with laughter as we heard from comedian and APRN Angel Rentas!
The October 2023 quarterly refresh for the Home Health Quality Reporting Program is now available on Care Compare. For this refresh, Home Health (HH) Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS) will be based on the standard number of quarters. The HH QRP claims-based measures have been updated for this refresh and, with the exception of PPR, are now based on the standard number of quarters.
Source: Medicare, Oct. 26, 2023
Palmetto GBA has recently published a tool agencies can use to teach physicians and staff.
It can be used to educate physicians or as a quality check for internal staff to make sure the face-to-face documentation meets requirements, according to the Medicare Administrative Contractor.
The four-page tool asks general questions about the visit, including whether the visit note addresses the primary reasons for home care.
It also goes through questions about the documentation that supports the need for home health services and the need for skilled services. For example, “Does it describe the patient's condition and symptoms, not just a list of diagnoses?”
You can see the tool here.
Source: Greg Hambrick, Oct. 24, 2023
Medicare reimbursement for hospice care and Hospital at Home are on the radar for the Congressional analysts at the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC).
On Oct. 24, MedPAC Chairman Michael Chernew released the list of issues across Medicare settings that the group intends to analyze in 2024. Among them were the Hospital at Home Program, telehealth, and payments for beneficiaries receiving hospice care.
Chernew noted MedPAC would also be reviewing Medicare’s support of providers in rural areas. Significant challenges for rural home health providers have been the subject of comments from commission members during recent meetings.
Source: Greg Hambrick, Oct. 27, 2023
On Oct. 26, 2023, Bill Dombi, President of the National Association for Home Care & Hospice gratefully accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award from BAYADA Hearts for Home Care (H4HC), a nonprofit advocacy organization made up of thousands of home care recipients, their families and loved ones, and home care professionals. This is only the second time this award has been given – the first was awarded to Mark Baiada, Founder and former CEO of BAYADA Home Health Care, upon his retirement in 2018.
This award recognizes Bill’s 40 years of dedication to ensuring that home care is top of mind for legislators and other decision makers in Washington, D.C. and across the United States. Bill has been involved in virtually all legislative and regulatory efforts affecting home care and hospice since 1975, including the expansion of the Medicare home health benefit in 1980, the formation of the hospice benefit in 1983, the institution of Medicare PPS for home health in 2000, and the national health care reform legislation in 2010. Additionally, Bill served as lead counsel in the landmark lawsuit that reformed the Medicare home health services benefit, lawsuits against Medicaid programs for inadequate payment rates, and current lawsuits challenging the Medicare home health face-to-face encounter rule and the Department of Labor changes to the overtime rules under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Source: NAHC, Oct. 27, 2023
Membership NewsWe invite you to serve on one of the Connecticut Association for Healthcare at Home's standing Committees. All Standing Committees report to and accept tasks from the Board of Directors and are expected to fulfill the mission of the Association.
Standing Committees are as follows: Business & Finance, Education, Government Relations, Hospice & Palliative Care and Quality Improvement. (See the Petition Form below for more information about each committee.)
If you have an interest in serving on one of our committees or continuing your service, please fill out the 2024 Association Committee Petition and return it to the Association no later than Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023. The Association will make every effort to honor your committee preference while still achieving a balance of member representation.
Sign up now to reserve your seat!
If you’ve been looking for a valuable resource for home health and hospice HR professionals to collaborate and learn new skills, this is it! Led by former Vice President of Human Resources for Mass General Brigham Home Care, participants of the HR Home Health and Hospice Roundtable will share ideas, discuss challenges, and find solutions. Each session will target a specific topic area determined by a group survey and provide guidance and support to help participants not just do their job well, but also provide them with the tools to excel as an HR professional.
Your OASIS accuracy impacts every part of your organization. It impacts your quality scores, your reimbursement, your success with Value-Based Purchasing, your STAR rating, and, most importantly, the care your patients receive. In essence, it impacts the very viability of your agency. That's why choosing the right education for your staff is key to success.
Education
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