As an advocate of technology in home care for the last 13 years, HCTR believes we should adopt an editorial position on the events of last week. The crime ring allegedly created by a Dallas-area physician could not have been successful had the state mandated the use of Electronic Visit Verification by home care agencies. Other states would be well-advised to take the six-year, $375 million fraud operation as a warning, not to merely step up investigation efforts but to put prevention measures in place. We have some measures to suggest.
The best way to drink from the fire hose that is the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) 2012 meeting is to search for the few home care and hospice lectures and exhibitors and offer readers a quick, easy-to-read briefing, Peruse our lead article for the topic headings and company names in bold that […]
We have been told that our weekly feature, “Last Week’s Most Popular Story,” is a popular one. So, to close the year, we thought we would bring a whole issue in that theme. Below you will find links to the year’s most-read news articles, interviews and opinion pieces. First, some 2011 statistics: We ran 201 […]
Today is December 7, 2011. Seventy years ago, a violent attack permanently imprinted tragic images on the American consciousness. Seventy years and three months ago, PFC Joseph P. Rowan was discharged from the U.S. Army; his final post was Schofield Barracks, a few minutes’ drive from Pearl Harbor. My thoughts turn to my father every December 7, and every time I give thanks that he got out of there in time and, as he nears his 92nd birthday, every time I take my turn as his caregiver. These are those thoughts.
What technologies are in use by home health care providers today? How will technology shape the home health care industry over the next few years? What technologies are helping home health care providers compete now and remain competitive in the future? We asked you and you told us. Here is analyst and independent consultant Dione Chen’s summary of what you said.
According to CMS data, the number of Medicare certified home health care agencies now exceeds 11,000. New research into that data by Healthcare Market Resources has brought to light a new and better way of understanding the general health of the Medicare home health care industry in an era of healthcare reform. It also helps to explain why the industry’s software vendors seem to be scratching their heads over the phenomenon of growing numbers of agencies but flat sales.
We do not often run editorial pieces, preferring to stick to reporting straight news. However, the budget battle raging in Congress right now is on the verge of doing tremendous damage to Medicare, including its home care benefit. Unfortunately, current events are too often interpreted without reference to their historical context. So we went back eight years to resurrect a legislative story that may help us better understand Representative Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) new proposal to do away with Medicare entirely.
To be clear: as opinion pieces are supposed to be, this one is admittedly one-sided, though its point of view is based on historical facts that are easily verifiable. It will come across as critical of both Ryan and one other giant of CMS history, Thomas A. Scully. Reader feedback is welcome, whether you agree or disagree. It is intended to be read in tandem with this week’s report (above) on a decision made by one of our advertisers, FGA, Inc., a decision quite the opposite of what Scully and Ryan are known for.
Lively discussions are not new within home care’s small telephony vendor community. Never before, however, has a controversy spawned the birth of an entire new organization to address it, nor has it led to such cooperation among competitors. As state Medicaid officials finally begin to appreciate the advantages of Electronic Visit Verification, the way four of them are going about it has raised some serious concerns.
Speculation has run wild for two years about how CMS might change the home care payment system this time. Talk of payment bundling, where hospitals get all the money and dole it out as they see fit, is already appearing as a workshop topic. Rumors about payments going directly to patients have come and gone. […]
If home health care providers sometimes feel that government agencies treat the industry like a pre-ball Cinderella when it comes to payment rates, a new report from the Office of Inspector General (OIG) will not make them feel any better. Though CMS continues to look for reasons to reduce payment rates to home care agencies, […]
