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2 weeks ago | 
mcknightshomecare.com | Liza Berger
As the old, decrepit United States healthcare system creaks and groans toward a tipping point of change, the case for home care keeps getting stronger. That’s, at least, how Paul Kusserow, chairman of the home health, personal care and hospice chain Amedisys, sees it. “People are generally getting a chronic illness in their mid-60s and living 20 to 30 years in many cases and that’s draining the healthcare system, which is largely hospital-based,” he told me in a podcast that aired Thursday.
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3 weeks ago | 
mcknightshomecare.com | Liza Berger
In a Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D program final rule issued late Friday, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service put off determinations related to prior authorizations, guardrails for artificial intelligence and Medicare Part D coverage of anti-obesity drugs.
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3 weeks ago | 
mcknightshomecare.com | Liza Berger
It doesn’t seem that the Trump administration is sparing any group in its cost-cutting quest. Believers in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), park rangers, scientists, veterans, teachers, disabled adults all have been casualties of the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE’s) ax. And, sadly, it seems older adults are the latest group with programs on the chopping block. With the restructuring of the Department of Health and Human Services, Secretary Robert F.
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3 weeks ago | 
mcknightshomecare.com | Liza Berger
The Senate on Thursday by a vote of 53 to 45 confirmed Mehmet Oz, MD, a former television talk show host known as Dr. Oz, as the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The National Alliance for Care at Home immediately issued a statement welcoming him.
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1 month ago | 
mcknightshomecare.com | Liza Berger
As the director of legislative affairs and advocacy at Hospice of the Chesapeake, the largest independent not-for-profit hospice provider in the state of Maryland, Rachel Jordan strives to treat the patient and not the disease. This helps explain why she worries less about the line between “curative” and “noncurative” care and more about whether a particular treatment helps to make a patient feel more comfortable.
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1 month ago | 
mcknightshomecare.com | Liza Berger
Like the quest to explore the moon in the 1960s, the new world of value-based care seems to have its own version of a space race. Unlike the fee-for-service era, it’s not a race for quantity of procedures. By contrast, it’s a race among payers and players to be able to link the healthcare delivery system in one straight line — from the so-called upstream – hospitals, acute care and primary care — to downstream — the home. The reward?
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1 month ago | 
mcknights.com | Liza Berger
CHICAGO — Many of the biggest names in long-term care gathered here Thursday for a night of socializing, imbibing and carousing for the McKnight’s third annual Pinnacle Awards. A boisterous crowd of current and past honorees filled the Ivy Room, located in Chicago’s stylish River North neighborhood, to fete 32 leaders and influencers in the skilled nursing, senior living and home care fields.
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1 month ago | 
mcknightshomecare.com | Liza Berger
Medalogix, a major data analytics firm for clinical professionals and agencies in the home health and hospice space, is combining with Forcura, an intelligent workflow management company, the two organizations disclosed Wednesday. Financial terms of the deal were not discussed. “From day one, we have believed that the future of healthcare is in the home,” said Elliott Wood, CEO of Medalogix who will become CEO of the combined business, in a statement.
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1 month ago | 
mcknightshomecare.com | Liza Berger
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Innovation Center disclosed this week that it plans to end four payment models early as part of a cost savings effort. Among the models it will wind down ahead of schedule is the ESRD [End-Stage Renal Disease] Treatment Choices model, which encourages greater use of home dialysis for Medicare beneficiaries while aiming to reduce costs, enhance care and address health equity.
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1 month ago | 
mcknightshomecare.com | Liza Berger
The Senate Finance Committee will hold a confirmation hearing Friday for Mehmet Oz, MD, the heart surgeon, TV personality and politician who is President Trump’s pick to lead the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Oz is grappling with controversy leading into his hearing. A memo from Democratic staff on the Senate Finance Committee found that he underpaid Medicare and Social Security in his taxes to the tune of $440,000, NBC News reported on Thursday.
