Home Health Agencies May Face Financial Strife After CMS Pay Bump
2023's "small" pay bump from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will not keep up with home health agencies' rising expenses, Modern Healthcare reports. The Wall Street Journal reminds us that the home caregiver industry experiences high turnover, impacting patients.
Modern Healthcare:
S&P Global: Home Health Agencies Face Defaults, Consolidation
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ small pay bump for home health agencies in 2023 will not keep up with the rising expenses for some providers, potentially leading to credit defaults or consolidation, according to a new report. (Kacik, 1/20)
The Wall Street Journal:
High Turnover Of Home Caregivers Makes Life Precarious For Many
Mary Barket, a 66-year-old widow with a degenerative muscular disorder and no family around to help, has had seven different caregivers come through her home in the past six months. On a recent Saturday morning, she was told by the home care agency that her caregiver wasn’t coming that day and that it couldn’t send a substitute, she says. Ms. Barket had one meal to last her until Monday, when the next caregiver was due. (Ansberry, 1/22)
In other updates from the health care industry —
Modern Healthcare:
CMS Aims To Clean Up Medicare Advantage Provider Directories
A merger left Hannah Hale without options. Digestive Health Associates of Texas combined with Texas Digestive Disease Consultants in January 2021 to become GI Alliance, a specialty group that includes nearly 700 gastroenterologists in 14 states. GI Alliance and her health insurance company, Cigna, failed to reach an agreement. But Cigna did not update its provider directory. (Tepper, 1/20)
The Boston Globe:
Mass General Brigham Restructures Community Hospitals
Facing pressure to cut spending and distribute patients more efficiently through a crowded system, Mass General Brigham is reorganizing the leadership of its community hospitals and consolidating oversight of its community doctors. The move, executives say, is the latest step in integrating the state’s largest health system, as it tries to move from a federation of hospitals and structures to a unified organization. (Bartlett, 1/20)
Stat:
A Different 'RAC' Subsidized Hospitals' Labor During The Pandemic
Hospitals have bemoaned rising employee expenses throughout the pandemic, as they’ve paid workers more to prevent them from jumping to competitors, pursuing traveling gigs, or leaving the profession completely. But some, like those in Texas, have been able to bring in traveling nurses and other temporary staff on the taxpayers’ dime. (Herman, 1/23)
The Boston Globe:
Harvard Medical School Votes To Embed Climate Change In Its Curriculum
Intense temperatures can cause hypothermia or heat stroke, particularly among elderly and homeless people, while survivors of extreme weather events such as a cataclysmic hurricane can experience high levels of anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to research from the CDC. And, the National Institutes of Health found that changes in air and water temperatures can increase bacteria, parasites, and chemical contaminants in food, according the National Institutes of Health. (Mohammed, 1/20)
PBS NewsHour:
How This Law Reshaped Medical Billing, And What Challenges Remain For Patients
One year ago, the United States marked a turning point for health care cost transparency with a new law aimed at helping Americans avoid unnecessary, unexpected medical debt. As of Jan. 1, 2022, health care providers and insurers are no longer allowed to sideswipe privately insured people with bills for out-of-network services. (Santhanam, 1/20)
The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer:
Going Wireless In The Hospital Operating Room; Cleveland-Area Startup Lazurite Wins FDA OK For New Camera To Replace Wired Technology
We’re living in a wireless world. So why, Eugene Malinskiy wondered, were surgeons still dealing with bulky, heavy wires in the operating room? That question occurred to Malinskiy, a Cleveland-area entrepreneur, when he saw a surgical assistant trip over bulky, heavy cables in an operating room prepped for arthroscopic surgery. (Washington, 1/23)
Chicago Tribune:
Outcome Health Execs Head To Trial Over Alleged Fraud Scheme
Much has happened in the world since two young entrepreneurs — once stars of Chicago’s tech scene — were charged with criminal fraud. In recent years, many Chicagoans may have forgotten about the spectacular rise and fall of Outcome Health and its founders. But Chicagoans are about to be reminded, in a big way. Three years after they were charged, the trial of former Outcome Health CEO Rishi Shah and former Outcome President Shradha Agarwal is set to begin this week in Chicago. (Schencker, 1/23)
