NASHVILLE, Tenn. (December 16, 2020)—CareBridge, an end-to-end technology and clinical company helping states and health plans managing patients receiving home and community-based services, announced its strategic partnership with BAYADA Home Health Care. CareBridge and BAYADA will join capabilities to explore and deliver innovative health care strategies together that improve the quality of life and efficiency of care for high-risk individuals.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (December 15, 2020)—The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) reviewed the latest available data on Medicare hospice utilization and discussed potential hospice payment recommendations for FY 2022 with an eye toward their inclusion in the annual March Report to Congress. 

Commission members expressed preliminary support for inclusion of the following recommendations:

TAMPA BAY, Fla. (December 11, 2020)—Empath Health and Stratum Health System announced that their Boards of Directors have formally approved the merger of the two organizations, pending regulatory approval. The merger will create the country’s largest not-for-profit health system delivering non-acute care and services through its skilled, significant medical and holistic programs to individuals with chronic, advanced and terminal illnesses. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. (December 11, 2020)—As part of the year-end legislative push, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the Beneficiary Enrollment Notification and Eligibility Simplification Act of 2019 (BENES Act) to address negative findings by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General (OIG) regarding survey performance by Medicare-certified hospice providers.