This article is sponsored by CitusHealth. Real-time, secure communication between patients, their families and the entire care team can be game-changing for a hospice provider. The ability to send and receive information about a patient’s care journey, whether it’s through texts, calls or video, ensures there are no gaps in care and keeps key stakeholders […]
Federal regulators are cracking down on the private insurers that administer Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. In turn, that could dampen the growth of palliative care supplemental benefits in MA moving forward. Despite palliative care’s ability to lower health care spending and improve patient outcomes, it remains an underutilized service. That’s partly because providers are forced […]
In what the agency is calling an effort to promote industry competition and protect consumers, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is making hospice-ownership data publicly available. HHS is also releasing ownership data for all Medicare-certified home health agencies, the department specified in a Thursday announcement. Federal health care officials had already […]
Hospice transaction activity has plummeted to its lowest level in years, new dealmaking data suggests. That’s no surprise, as many anticipate health care investors to operate with a more conservative approach in 2023. The cooldown, experts note, is partly due to inflation reaching multi-decade highs, uncertainty in the banking world and credit markets drying up. […]
Hospice providers have increasingly turned to technology to connect with hard-to-reach patients, streamline back-office functions and stay ahead of the curve on worsening health conditions. Many operators have likewise leveraged tech to better engage employees in hopes of stronger recruitment and retention. The year ahead is likely to bring significantly more technology investment as well, […]
Home health and hospice giant Amedisys Inc. (NASDAQ: AMED) has repeatedly voiced its enthusiasm for its palliative care business in early 2023. It now has another reason to be excited: a new contracting agreement with a key payer. On Wednesday, the Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based Amedisys announced a new agreement with BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee to […]
National health care expenditures in the U.S. grew 2.7% to reach $4.3 trillion in 2021, according to a new analysis from the Office of the Actuary at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). That growth came at a much slower rate than the previous increase of 10.3% seen in 2020, with the slowdown […]
As Amedisys Inc. (NASDAQ: AMED) Chairman Paul Kusserow rejoins the C-suite as CEO, his list of priorities includes increasing clinician retention rates, leveraging innovation arm Contessa and returning to some degree of earnings predictability. Kusserow — who holds a reputation as a successful turnaround executive — held the Amedisys CEO role from 2014 until early […]
Key leaders from the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) doubled down on the agency’s six strategic pillars Tuesday, while also sharing insights on how they’re handling the gradual end of the public health emergency (PHE). They did so during a national conference call with hospice operators and other CMS stakeholders. “We really […]
Encompass Health Corporation (NYSE: EHC) continues to rebound from the recent staffing woes within its hospice and home health segment. But in light of rising COVID-19 cases and hospitalization rates across the U.S., that near-term optimism coming from Encompass Health – and many of its peers – could prove short-lived. To fully move on from […]
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