CHICAGO—PurposeCare, a leading provider of coordinated home care and home health services in the Midwest, has announced Rob Barrow as chief operating officer.

MARIETTA, Georgia—SageHome Inc., the aging-in-place specialist, announced it has expanded to four new states in partnership with Kohler Co. The expansion, covering Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, completes a year of achievements for the company and will form the springboard for SageHome's growth and expansion plans in 2023, the company said. 

Medicare beneficiaries of color used more home health services than white beneficiaries—and were also more likely to rely on unpaid caregivers for their home health care than white beneficiaries, according to a new report from the Commonwealth Fund.

NORTHFIELD, Illinois and SILICON SLOPES, Utah—Medline and CareXM today announced an exclusive marketing and distribution agreement to serve the home health and hospice industry. The partnership between the two companies is focused on leveraging technology to relieve challenges of patient triage to help reduce staff burnout.

LIVINGSTON, Tennessee—Encore Healthcare has named Sarah Brundidge director of quality and innovation. Brundidge holds a master’s degree in respiratory from Rush University and bachelor’s degree in English literature. She brings vast experience in respiratory care, including in hospitals, home medical equipment, themedical device industry and remote patient monitoring.

LAS VEGAS—Nobi, a provider of aging technology solutions, has introduced a smart lamp powered by artificial intelligence (AI) that focuses on fall detection and prevention for older adults. The company, which presented the lamp at CES (formerly the Consumer Electronics Show), said the device can help protect against injury and death while also reducing health care costs due to falls.

WATERLOO, Iowa— VGM and Associates has released its first playbook of the year, “VGM Playbook: Forecasting 2023.”
 

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pennsylvania—ECRI, a nonprofit organization focused on technology evaluation and safety in health care, said that the nation's most pressing health technology safety issue for 2023 is gaps with recalls of home medical equipment (HME).

"Recall notices for home-use products often do not reach users, placing patients at serious risk of harm," the organization said in its new report, "Top 10 Health Technology Hazards."

OAKLAND, California—Rx Redefined, a tech-enabled provider of medical supply services for group practices, announced it has raised $8 million in Series A funding. The platform allows physicians to directly order and fulfill the supplies they believe are in the patient's best interest, thereby reducing handoffs and improving the patient experience.

NEW YORK—A man has pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud in connection with a Medicare durable medical equipment (DME) fraud scheme, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Matthew Taylor Witkowski is scheduled to be sentenced on April 20, 2023 and could serve up to 10 years.