Public Comment Sought on Community-based Palliative Care Measures

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In September 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) awarded seven organizations new cooperative agreements to partner in developing, improving, updating, or expanding quality measures for Medicare’s Quality Payment Program (QPP).  Among these cooperative agreements, authorized under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), was a $5.5 million grant to […]

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Transportation and Internet Barriers Limit Rural Access to Home Health

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Patients in rural parts of the United States often have difficulty accessing home health care and other home-and community-based services (HCBS), according to a new study published earlier this month in the Journal of Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine. The study indicates that HCBS should save money for state Medicaid agencies, but barriers, particularly in […]

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CMS to Survey Home Health Agencies on Quality Measures

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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a Paperwork Reduction Act notice in the Federal Register on November 15, 2018 announcing its plans for a Home Health National Provider Survey. The survey is part of a requirement that CMS every three years assess and report the quality and efficiency effects of the use […]

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CMS Awards Funding for Development of Palliative Care, Other Quality Measures

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On September 21 the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) awarded seven organizations new cooperative agreements to partner in developing, improving, updating, or expanding quality measures for Medicare’s Quality Payment Program (QPP). These cooperative agreements, authorized under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), represent the first funding initiative supporting public-private […]

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A Third of Americans Rely on the Unregulated ‘Gray Market’ for Senior Care

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Nearly a third of Americans who pay for senior care hire workers that aren’t tied to a regulated agency, a new study from RAND Corporation suggests. Instead, these individuals hire or use workers from the “gray market,” or the unregulated market of under-the-table labor. For professional home-based care agencies, the findings suggest there’s a huge, untapped […]

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