(HARTFORD, CT) – Governor Ned Lamont today announced that he is appointing Matthew Brokman to serve as chief of staff in the Office of the Governor.

 

Brokman will succeed Jonathan Dach in the position. Dach, who worked on Governor Lamont’s 2018 campaign and has served in his office since the beginning of his first term in January 2019, is resigning from his position as chief of staff in anticipation of a move out of state and will continue as a senior advisor to the governor to assist with the transition and focus on select initiatives. Brokman begins serving as chief of staff effective today.

 

“Matt is incredibly talented and has a comprehensive knowledge of the policies and practices of Connecticut state government,” Governor Lamont said. “He shares my commitment to making Connecticut the best state to live, work and do business, and I am excited to have him serving in this new capacity. Jonny is one of the brightest minds I’ve ever worked with and has been an important partner to me and the other members of our team for the last six years. I thank him for his dedication and service.”

Source: NAHC, July 3, 2024

 

Despite several challenges to the Department of Labor’s (DOL) new overtime rule, the final rule “Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales, and Computer Employees” went into effect as ordered on Monday, July 1, 2024, extending overtime protections for millions of salaried workers.

 

Julie Su, acting Secretary of Labor, issued this statement:

 

“For more than 80 years, the 40-hour workweek has been a pillar of fairness for American workers. It’s the promise of going home to loved ones after putting in your time, not endless hours for flat pay. Far too many are stuck in jobs that disregard this principle. Today, our rule to restore that balance by expanding overtime protections for our nation’s lower-paid salaried workers goes into effect."

Source: NAHC, July 2, 2024

 

On Wednesday, June 26, NAHC President William A. Dombi, co-chair of the NAHC Medicaid Advisory Council Dave Totaro, and Damon Terzaghi, NAHC Senior Director of Medicaid Advocacy, met with the leadership of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to discuss home care issues in the Medicaid program.

 

During the conversation, participants discussed opportunities to partner more closely, particularly as CMS seeks to issue subregulatory guidance and implement the Medicaid Access Rule. Specific areas of focus included:

Source: McKnight’s Home Care, July 2, 2024

 

By overturning the longstanding Chevron precedent, the Supreme Court has potentially opened the door for more challenges to regulators’ authority. This potentially signals a positive outcome for a lawsuit filed to reverse damaging Medicare home health rate cuts.

 

“We will definitely capitalize on this,” William Dombi, president of the National Association for Home Care & Hospice, told McKnight’s Home Care Daily Pulse in an interview Monday.

 

In July 2023, NAHC sued the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for its methodology in making rate adjustment determinations for Medicare home health providers. A district judge dismissed the suit in April 2024 for procedural reasons, and Dombi since has said he would renew the suit. Now, with the Chevron doctrine overturned, Dombi said CMS bears a greater responsibility for justifying its decisions to enact repeated reimbursement cuts for home health.

Source: CMS

 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is providing notifications to hospices that were determined to be out of compliance with Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP) requirements for calendar year (CY) 2023, which will affect their fiscal year (FY) 2025 Annual Payment Update (APU). Non-compliance notifications will be distributed by the Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) and will be placed into hospices’ Certification and Survey Enhanced Reporting (CASPER) folders in QIES on July 3, 2024. Hospices that receive a letter of non-compliance may submit a request for reconsideration to CMS via email no later than 11:59 p.m., August 14, 2024. If you receive a notice of non-compliance and would like to request a reconsideration, see the instructions in your notification and on the Reconsideration Requests webpage.

 

Please note: Any reconsideration containing protected health information (PHI) will not be processed. All PHI must be removed in order for a reconsideration to be reviewed.

When it comes to recruitment and retention, disorganized processes are one of the main reasons home care providers often see a revolving door of caregivers.

 

That was one of the key takeaways from Activated Insights’ — formerly Home Care Pulse — 2024 Benchmarking Report.

 

The report found that home care turnover has increased by more than 12% over the past two years. The current industry-wide turnover rate is 79.2%.

 

The HCS Home Care and Hospice Salary & Benefits studies are now underway! This is the fifth year the Connecticut Association for Healthcare at Home (CAHCH)  has partnered with Hospital & Healthcare Compensation Service (HCS) on the studies. Both studies are also published in cooperation with the National Association for Home Care & Hospice.

 

The reports are recognized as the authoritative source for comprehensive marketplace data for home health hospice agencies. Last year’s Home Care Report contained data from 1,018 home health agencies and included data from 16 Connecticut agencies. The Hospice Report had data from 704 hospice agencies and included data from 10 Connecticut agencies.

 

Both studies include questions on staffing issues, nursing vacancy turnover rates and sign-on bonuses used by agencies to attract new employees. The results cover job data by salary, hourly and per-visit rates with job data breakouts by auspice, revenue size, region, state and CBSA. Regional data for 19 fringe benefits, planned salary increases, productivity, caseload and shift differential data are also covered.

 

As you know, we partner with the Hospice & Home Care Webinar Network (HHWN - https://hospice.eewebinarnetwork.com/ ) to bring you a comprehensive range of webinar-based training topics each year. Currently, we have over 125 webinars to choose from. The revenue provided to us by HHWN helps to support your organization by supporting our mission.

 

Due to recent changes in email deliverability metrics, we are asking you to make sure you mark HHWN’s domains, @e.eewebinarnetwork.com and @eewebinarnetwork.com, as safe senders and forward this message to your organizations IT department. If you want to limit the topics about which you receive webinar announcements, you can simply use this Manage Your Email Preferences link to choose only the topics you want to receive.

ACHC wanted to pass along this exciting information regarding a new distinction that our accredited home health and hospice agencies can earn: Age-Friendly Care

 

This additional recognition acknowledges that older adults may have goals and priorities that differ from those of other age groups. Age-friendly care is intentional with regard to safety and reduction of harm and confusion. It focuses on the use of four evidence-based best practices in geriatric care known as the 4Ms*: What Matters, Medication, Mentation, and Mobility. The Distinction in Age-Friendly Care is patient-centered and designed to enhance patient outcomes.

 

The 4Ms framework is a key element of the Age-Friendly Health Systems initiative developed by The John A. Hartford Foundation and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, in collaboration with the American Hospital Association and the Catholic Health Association of the United States. 

 

The distinction not only recognizes you as a champion of age-friendly care but also highlights the value of your services to patients, payors and referring providers and keeps you aligned with best practices to address challenges faced by older patients.

 

The other new distinction we have is for Home Health providers: Home Health Outcomes

 

Our Distinction in Home Health Outcomes is the first to validate excellence in meeting measurement-based quality standards established by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Eligibility is limited to providers that score in the overall top 25% of the CMS Home Health Value-Based Purchasing (HHVBP) Performance Report.

 

Achieving these distinction(s) places your members' agency in a special class of providers, assuring patients and their families of your dedication to delivering superior care for older adults.

Source: Corcoran Consulting Group, June 24, 2024

 

North Haven, Conn., June 24, 2024 – Corcoran Consulting Group LLC is pleased to welcome Jane Panneton, a 27-year healthcare industry veteran, as Managing Consultant. Panneton works closely with Corcoran’s home care clients to improve their financial competency, create strategic exit plans, and provide sell-side guidance in mergers & acquisitions.

 

Panneton began her career as a financial analyst with Quest Diagnostics, progressing to revenue operations manager.  Growing up, she witnessed the substandard care of an older family member in a facility setting. This experience fueled her deep desire to provide better home-based solutions to people as they age. In 2007, she purchased territory rights to operate a non-medical home care franchise in the Greater Philadelphia area, which received Franchise of The Year and Award of Excellence recognitions.