This article indicates some of the key predictions for healthcare change in this country by several seminal thinkers, such as Donald Berwick, former CMS administrator. What changes will “work” or not in the next years of the Obama Administration are identified and discussed.
The National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) is urgently requesting input from every provider agency regarding the potential impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) requirement that certain employers pay a penalty when they do not provide a qualified health plan to employees. NAHC’s efforts to alert the home […]
by H. Carol Saul Almost fifteen years ago, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) adopted a final rule requiring home health agencies (HHAs) to post surety bonds in the amount of $50,000, or 15% of the annual amount received from Medicare, whichever was greater. That regulation quickly faced opposition by Congress and by […]
By Tim Rowan At first glance, discussion of Meaningful Use of Electronic Health Records (EHR), the standard by which the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT will determine eligibility for stimulus payments to healthcare providers, is only of interest to hospitals and physicians. This could be a costly assumption for home health […]
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that, as of July 1, 89 new Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) began serving 1.2 million Medicare beneficiaries in 40 states and the District of Columbia. ACOs are organizations formed by groups of doctors and other health care providers that have agreed to work together to coordinate […]
