Home Health

On May 5, the World Health Organization released a statement determining the COVID-19 pandemic no longer warranted a public health emergency of international concern.

BANNOCKBURN, Illinois and BATON ROUGE, Lousiana—Option Care Health, Inc. ("Option Care Health"), the nation's largest independent provider of home and alternate site infusion services, and Amedisys, Inc., a provider of home health, hospice and high-acuity care, announced they have entered into a definitive merger agreement to combine in an all-stock transaction that values Amedisys at approximately $3.6 billion, including the assumption of net debt.

MEDFORD, Massachusetts & COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado—Innovive Health, a home health care agency serving complex behavioral health patients, announced it is expanding its behavioral health home care model to Colorado. The expansion comes as the nation’s health care system is facing a growing patient population with behavioral health needs and unprecedented staffing and economic pressures in the wake of the pandemic.

The American Association for Homecare (AAHomecare) hopes to bolster its advocacy capabilities in critical areas through the addition of Alexis Ward as Senior Director of Payer Relations, effective June 19, 2023.

​Late last week, Home Care Association of America reported CEO Vicki Hoak announced her resignation. She will continue to lead the organization until her last day, Oct. 24, 2023, after the National Home Care Conference. After three years Hoak intends to focus on other areas of interest and spend time with her family.
 

TAMPA, Florida—RemSleep Holdings Inc., a medical device manufacturer dedicated to treatment provided to Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) patients, provided an update on its testing protocol for 510K clearance of its DeltaWave CPAP Mask as well as developments for its next-generation masks which it said has shown internal indications of relief from those suffering with certain comorbidities in conjunction with their sleep apnea.

ROCHESTER HILLS, Michigan—InfuSystem Holdings, Inc., a national health care service provider, facilitating outpatient care for durable medical equipment manufacturers and health care providers, announced a national distribution agreement with Genadyne Biotechnologies Inc. for its negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) systems and supplies.

DALLAS—Elara Caring, a full-scale, multi-state home health provider of clinical and personalized services across the patient continuum, partnered with Nevvon to provide training to caregivers in their Personal Care Service (PCS) division. Elara Caring said the move aims to further improve the quality of care provided to patients by ensuring that new caregivers have the knowledge and skills required to provide personalized care at "Elara’s high standard."

WASHINGTON—Following the launch of its highly successful Brain Health Academy in 2022, UsAgainstAlzheimer’s today announced class will be back in session starting May 17. Hosted virtually, the Academy is designed to equip health care providers and wellness professionals with the knowledge and resources to help people reduce their risk of Alzheimer’s and related dementias. This includes helping people understand the connection between lifestyle interventions and brain health.

HENDERSON, Nevada—Health Mobius’ Kamal Haddad will participate in a panel discussion, “Focusing on Care Where Health Meets the Home”, on Tuesday, May 9, at 8 a.m. PT during the ECRM Home Health Care Session at Green Valley Ranch Resort & Spa in Henderson, Nevada.

AAHomecare is seeking input from the full spectrum of home medical equipment (HME) stakeholders to help set strategic priorities that reflect the needs of the industry and better equip the Association to achieve them.

DALLAS—Following Axxess’ first-ever AGILE conference held this week, the company has already announced its 2024 conference will be held April 21-24 in Dallas.

More than 40 partners supported AGILE (Axxess Growth, Innovation and Leadership Experience) with sponsorships of the three-day event, which attracted several hundred industry leaders, including C-suite executives, operational and financial managers, industry investors, strategic advisors and clinicians on the frontlines.

Nearly every U.S. hospital and physician entity is more likely to refer patients to a post-acute care (PAC) provider that can support electronic data exchange, according to the latest leading independent survey on interoperability, commissioned by Brightree and MatrixCare, wholly owned subsidiaries of ResMed.

MONTREAL, Canada—AlayaCare, a developer of home- and community-based care operations platform, announced Visit Optimizer—helping homecare organizations increase their workforce efficiency and enhance caregiver scheduling for better client care and outcomes. Visit Optimizer is a feature developed by the AlayaLabs team, created to leverage innovative advanced algorithms, machine learning and AI for the AlayaCare Cloud platform.

PHOENIX, Arizona—CarePatrol, a senior care solutions organization, was recently named a top franchise by Franchise Business Review (FBR) in its report on the Top Recession-Proof Franchises for 2023. 
 

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced it is releasing ownership data for all Medicare-certified hospice and homecare agencies. For the first time, anyone can now review detailed information on the ownership of more than 6,000 hospices and 11,000 home health agencies certified to participate in the Medicare program on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) website.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—More than a year-and-a-half after Philips announced the voluntary recall of 3 million to 4 million of its sleep apnea devices and ventilators, the U.S.