On Monday September 23rd, the Public Health Committee Co-Chairs, Senator Anwar and Representative Cristen McCarthy Vahey, held the first meeting of the newly formed Home Health and Hospice safety work group.

 

After all members were introduced, it was determined that Tracy Wodatch, Pres/CEO of the Association and Sasa Harriott, Pres/CEO of Harriott Home Health Care will serve as co-chairs.  Not later than January 1, 2025, the working group shall submit a report on its findings and recommendations to the Public Health Committee. 

 

Updates will be provided to members via our newsletters as well as member meetings.  Your voice and ideas are welcomed as you are the experienced subject matter experts.

Source: The Alliance, September 23, 2024

 

Beginning October 1, 2024, hospice base payment rates will increase by 2.9 percent, as published in the final FY 2025 Hospice Payment Rule. As is customary, the Medicaid program waits until Medicare rates are finalized to issue guidance on the applicable corresponding hospice payment rates. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicaid Financial Management Group recently issued a memorandum containing the minimum Medicaid hospice rates that will be applicable for FY2025.

 

Hospices should note that the hourly rate for Continuous Home Care ($67.44 under Medicare and $67.47 for Medicaid) will be the rate applicable to the Service-Intensity Add-on (SIA) applied to certain in-person visit hours delivered by RNs and Social Workers in the last week of life while a patient is on Routine Home Care (RHC). 

WASHINGTON – The Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare – a coalition of leading Medicare home health providers dedicated to fighting for access to quality care in the home to promote independence and health – today released a third-party analysis of Medicare home health fee-for-service claims from 2022 through 2023 demonstrating a dramatic decline in access to home health services for patients and families.

 

The analysis – completed for the Partnership with updated numbers from CareJourney by Arcadia – found that in 2022 alone nearly 35% of patient hospital discharges to home health failed to access home health within seven days. Further, their data show that among patients unable to access care, their rate of death was 41% higher compared to patients who received timely home health.

Source: The Alliance, September 20, 2024

 

On August 23, 2024, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Center for Clinical Standards and Quality (CCSQ) issued a revised memo titled Transitioning Certification Functions for Changes of Ownership, Administrative Changes, and Initial Enrollment Performed by the SOG Locations.

 

The memo describes the CMS’ transitioning of certain certification enrollment functions performed by the CMS Survey and Operations Group (SOG) Locations (formerly CMS Regional Offices) to CMS’s Center for Program Integrity (CPI) and its Provider Enrollment Oversight Group (PEOG) and to the Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs). The revision clarifies initial certification processes for providers/suppliers seeking deemed status via a CMS-approved Accrediting Organization (AO). Specifically, for home health and hospice providers, the AO must not conduct an initial survey until the state agency has provided approval to the AO.

One in five Medicare beneficiaries need home health care following hospitalization. However, a recent analysis based on Medicare claims data found recommended post-discharge care declined significantly over six years.

 

Fulfillment rates for home health referrals dropped from 66% to 59% between 2016 and 2022, according to The Commonwealth Fund analysis. Unfulfilled home health referrals are associated with more hospital readmissions and higher death rates among both Medicare and Medicare Advantage recipients. The authors noted that this trend could seriously impact hospitalized Medicare beneficiaries.

Though hospice usage rates sagged following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, new data suggest utilization trends could be returning to form.

 

The latest National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization Facts and Figures report, released Tuesday by the National Alliance for Care at Home, outlined key statistics related to hospice care delivery, patient characteristics, and Medicare spending in 2022. COVID-19 continued to impact hospice delivery that year, but the report’s findings hinted that the industry may be normalizing to its pre-pandemic state.

We are excited to celebrate Theresa Santoro’s 25th anniversary with RVNAhealth, and we invite you to join us on Thursday, September 26th, at Le Chateau in South Salem, NY.

 

Joining the agency as a visiting nurse 25 years ago, Theresa Santoro was appointed President & CEO in July 2007. Since then, she has led RVNAhealth through tremendous growth, including the addition of hospice and nonmedical caregiving services; community clinics and wellness programs; the construction of the 23,000 square foot RVNAhealth headquarters which houses offices, treatment rooms, a clinical training and resource center, and an outpatient therapy center; as well as a merger with the Bethel VNA and New Milford Visiting Nurse & Hospice. She also guided the agency as it navigated the COVID-19 pandemic, with nursing and hospice care in private homes and skilled nursing facilities, and public health vaccine administration. Called “the heart of communities throughout Connecticut” by the local press, Santoro’s tutelage has positioned the nonprofit as the premier healthcare resource for home and community-based care.