Missouri advocates decry proposed change to at-home disability care funding

NAHC Summer Backyard Advocacy: Letters to the Editor & Virtual Connections

Welcome to Week Four of the 2023 Summer Backyard Advocacy Campaign! This week, NAHC is encouraging advocates for the home care and hospice communities to write letters to the editor of your local news publications. What is a Letter to the Editor? When you feel strongly about an issue or a piece of legislation and you want […]

TEP Opportunity: Expanded Home Health Value-Based Purchasing Model Implementation & Monitoring

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) contracted with Abt Associates, Inc. to support the implementation of the HHVBP Model, including the development of refinements to the measures and scoring methodology, first for the original Model and now for the expanded HHVBP Model. The contract name is Research, Measurement, Assessment, Design and Analysis: Home Health Value-Based […]

Hospice Industry Groups: CMS Must Retool Proposed Special Focus Program to Ensure Accuracy, Fairness

‘Is It A Good Or Bad Thing?’: How Providers, Advocates Feel About Optum’s Home Health Entrance

NAHC to CMS: Medicare Home Health Benefit is at a Crossroads

In comments filed in response to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid’s (CMS) 2024 proposed home health rule, the National Association for Home Care & Hospice told CMS that the proposed payment rate cut of 5.653 percent will significantly reduce access to essential home health services throughout the country and set the stage for further […]

NAHC to CMS: Hospice Special Focus Program Needs to Be Fair & Accurate

The National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) filed comments yesterday in response to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) 2024 home health rule, telling CMS that some aspects of the hospice Special Focus Program are flawed and need to be fixed to ensure accuracy and fairness. In resposne to reports from […]

Florida Ruling on Private Duty Nursing & Implications for Medicaid Nationally

Recently, a Federal Court decision in Florida directed the state to expand the availability of community-based services and move children in the Medicaid program out of institutional settings. As Ms. Elizabeth E. Hogue, Esq wrote in an explanation of the decision, the court ruling specifically identified deficiencies with the availability of Private Duty Nursing as a root cause of […]

Expanded HHVBP Model: July 2023 IPR Post-Event Resources Now Available

On July 27, 2023, the expanded HHVBP Model Technical Assistance team hosted a live learning event, Overview of the Interim Performance Report (IPR): The July 2023 IPR. The presentation included the timeline for the calendar year (CY) 2023 performance year, how to access the IPRs, the content presented in each IPR tab, the recalculation request process, […]

New CMS Open Door Forum on Wednesday, August 30

The next Home Health, Hospice & DME Open Door Forum is scheduled for Wednesday, August 30, 2023, PM at 2:00 PM-3:00 PM Eastern Time (ET). Please log on at least 15 minutes prior to the forum start time. **This Agenda is Subject to Change** Chair – Brian Slater, Center for Medicare, CMS Co-Chair- Kelly Vontran, […]

Numbers of Medicaid terminations of older, disabled growing by the week

Updates From the Hospice Quality Reporting Program

Hospice providers should be aware of the following two updates in the Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP): Providers can now access the latest Provider Preview Reports via their Certification and Survey Provider Enhanced Reports (CASPER) folder.  The purpose of this report is to give providers the opportunity to preview each of their HIS and claims-based […]