SARASOTA, Florida—Tidewell Foundation received a grant of $5,050 from the Eugene H. and Elizabeth Hull Fund of the Manatee Community Foundation (MCF) to support Tidewell Hospice grief services in Manatee County.

The grant will support art-related grief and bereavement programming for Tidewell Hospice, which provides 13 months of grief support services, free of charge, to family members of Tidewell patients after their loss.

MADISON HEIGHTS, Michigan—Northwood has entered into an agreement with DMEscripts to integrate DMEscripts’ e-prescribing platform with Northwood’s supplier portal and third-party administration technology. This integration aims to increase the speed and efficiency of DMEPOS authorization requests and allow secure access to supporting medical documentation.

WASHINGTON—The new group formed by the recent merger of the National Association for Homecare and Hospice (NAHC) and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) has already gotten to work advocating in the industry—even though it doesn’t yet have a name or CEO. 

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota—The Department of Labor (DOL) has recovered $135,000, representing $67,500 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages, for 57 employees of Axis Home PCA Agency Inc. An investigation by the department’s wage and hour division found the Minneapolis employer violated the Fair Labor Standard Act’s overtime and recordkeeping provisions.  

WASHINGTON—On July 30, 2024, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule (CMS-1810-F) updating Medicare hospice payment rates by 2.9% and setting the aggregate cap amount for fiscal year (FY) 2025. 

HOBOKEN, New Jersey—Remote care solutions company Essence SmartCare, part of Essence Group, announced the integration of its Umbrella mPERS device with major North American monitoring service providers Affiliated Monitoring,

ATLANTA—Trella Health, a provider of market intelligence and integrated customer relationship management (CRM) solutions to the post-acute care industry, released its 2024 edition of the Post-Acute Care Industry Trends Report.

Leveraging the most recent and complete data available from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, this report highlights trends, ongoing challenges and emerging opportunities shaping the post-acute care industry.

This story is republished with permission from KFF Health News. KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

WATERLOO, Iowa—VGM & Associates has released the third playbook of the year, “Boosting Results in Patient-Centered Homecare.” This publication explores the exciting opportunities that value-based care presents for the post-acute homecare industry.

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and Mike Braun (R-IN), Chairman and Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, introduced the bipartisan PACE Anytime Act. The bill will expand access to the PACE program, which provides thousands of lower-income seniors and people with disabilities with comprehensive care.