Several of the biggest changes in the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) CY 2024 final home health rule deal with the Home Health Value-Based Purchasing (HHVBP) model.

At face value, it may seem like the HHVBP process is being simplified in the way providers fill out OASIS forms. However, there’s more to it than just that.

 

“What is true today is not what’s going to be true with the final rule,” Cindy Krafft, owner of K&K Health Care Solutions, said during a MedBridge webinar on Tuesday. “I do believe that many people were so concerned about the reimbursement piece that there was not enough feedback in the open comment period about some of these other things.”

The ongoing merger between two of the largest home care and hospice advocacy organizations is making significant progress, and its leaders discussed new and upcoming action items in a first-ever joint “town hall” meeting in November. 

 

For the National Association for Home Care & Hospice and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, key priorities include overseeing the selection of a transition board, creating advance definitive agreements, ensuring overall synergy between the two organizations and gathering stakeholder input, NAHC’s board chair Ken Albert said during the town hall.

 

The Office of Management and Budget recently revised Form CMS-855A , ‘Medicare Enrollment

Application for Institutional Providers,’ to include additional ownership information among other

changes. CMS began accepting submissions of the revised form on Nov. 17, 2023. Providers

may continue using the prior version of the enrollment form through Dec. 17, 2023. After

this time, the revised enrollment form must be used. For additional information, see CMS’ MLN

Fact Sheet, ‘New Ownership Reporting Requirements for Providers Using the Form CMS-855A.’

For calendar year 2024, CMS announced a $709 application fee for newly enrolling or revalidating

institutional providers or those with new practice locations.

On Nov. 14, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released an information bulletin that provided information about annual updates to the income standards for certain eligibility groups. A number of eligibility criteria for older adults and people with disabilities are based on the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program’s Federal Benefit Rate (FBR).

 

In 2024, the FBR will increase from $914 a month to $943 (a 3.2 percent increase) and the eligibility groups based on SSI will increase accordingly. Similarly, other eligibility criteria, such as the home equity disregard, the Medicare Savings Program asset limits, and the Spousal Impoverishment standards will increase.

 

Oakland, NJ, November 2023 – The national average hourly rate for Hospice RNs increased 4.58% in 2023, according to the just released 2023-2024 Hospice Salary & Benefits Report, down slightly from the 5.95% increase seen in 2022. The Report is published by Hospital & Healthcare Compensation Service (HCS) in cooperation with the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC).

 

The national hourly rate for hospice RNs was $38.08. In a comparison of rates by state, RNs in Massachusetts received $45.08/hour; RNs in Connecticut received $45.15/hour; and California RNs ranked the highest in pay at $53.74/hour. On the lower spectrum, RNs in Mississippi received $32.90/hour; while RNs in Arkansas received $33.07/hour; and RNs in Tennessee received $33.93/hour. (Data reported are the national 50th percentile.)