COVID-19 (Coronavirus) and Homecare
After she landed in the hospital with a broken hip, Parkinson’s disease and the coronavirus, 84-year-old Dorothy “Poogie” Wyatt Shields made a request of her children: “Bring me home.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 21, 2020)—The National Association for Home Care & Hospice announced full support of the COVID-19 Emergency Manufacturing Act, a bicameral bill introduced by Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) in the Senate and Rep.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 20, 2020)—The National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) is urging the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to establish permanent flexibilities allowing hospices to utilize telecommunications to deliver multi-disciplinary, patient-centered care, and to ensure that such services can be recorded and monitored for their impact on quality of care.
(May 19, 2020)—In the U.S., there are some 130,000 medical residents — doctors in their final years of training after medical school — who make up a vital part of the workforce.
Now a global pandemic has become the centerpiece of their training.
Many are pulling long hours in emergency departments and intensive care units treating patients infected with the coronavirus, all while witnessing the health care system under unprecedented stress.
TYLER, Texas (May 19, 2020)—The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed several shortcomings in the United States health care system along with new opportunities. The question remains, what have we learned about the healthcare system's capabilities or lack thereof during the coronavirus crisis and how might those lessons be applied in a post-COVID-19 world, whenever that day comes?
WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 15, 2020)—A recent survey of more than 500 home medical equipment suppliers shows that the COVID-19 pandemic is seriously impacting suppliers’ access to products on account of supply chain disruptions and rising prices from manufacturers and distributors.
MINNETONKA, Minn. (May 14, 2020)—The United Health Foundation has donated $750,000 to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) and support for frontline health care workers fighting COVID-19 and the vulnerable populations they serve in Pennsylvania.
BOSTON (May 13, 2020)—Certified Homecare Consulting (CHC), a home health care consulting company with offices in Salem, New Hampshire, and Boston, Massachusetts, is responding to the limited availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) supply resources through strengthening its ordering positions with new and existing supply chain partners in order to ensure that home health care provider agencies are able to source these materials from a reliable partner in a timely manner, with limit
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (May 12, 2020)--New York state has arguably been the hardest hit by the novel coronavirus outbreak—and that’s leading to some creativity in the business world.
By Judith Graham
DENVER ― Last month, Minna Buck revised a document specifying her wishes should she become critically ill.
“No intubation,” she wrote in large letters on the form, making sure to include the date and her initials.
Buck, 91, had been following the news about COVID-19. She knew her chances of surviving a serious bout of the illness were slim. And she wanted to make sure she wouldn’t be put on a ventilator under any circumstances.
WATERLOO, Iowa (May 7, 2020)—Heartland At Home organizers announced that registration for VGM’s virtual conference is now open.
Slated for June 15 through July 10, Heartland At Home will feature five tracks dedicated to billing and reimbursement, rehab, business operations and leadership, respiratory and accessibility. One day during each of the four weeks will feature a session from the five tracks.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (May 7, 2020)— Over 50% of LeadingAge members responding to a recent online poll indicated that they expect their current supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) to last two weeks or less.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 5, 2020)—The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) most recent COVID-19 Interim Final Rule with Comment (IFC) provides flexibility for hospital outpatient departments (HOPD) to provide services to their patients to their home. During the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), a patient’s home may be considered an off-site location of a hospital department. Only registered outpatients may receive services in the home by the HOPD.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 5, 2020)—The COVID-19 stimulus legislation enacted in late March provides significant reimbursement relief for suppliers servicing Medicare beneficiaries in non-rural areas that are not subject to the bidding program. The reimbursement rate for items that have been receiving 100% of the competitive bidding adjusted fee schedule are getting a blended rate of 75% adjusted and 25% unadjusted (2015 fee schedule) rates.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 1, 2020)—More than 40% of home health agencies (HHAs) reported serving actively infected COVID-19 patients—and more than 85% in the New York/New Jersey area—in a survey conducted by the National Association for Home Care and Hospice (NAHC).
NAHC conducted the survey between April 6 and April 17; more than 1,100 home health companies from all states participated.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 30, 2020)—The COVID-19 pandemic is challenging health care providers, communities and caregivers to a degree not seen in the last 100 years.
