Literature Review

Home health, hospice veterans behind BoldAge PACE’s nationwide expansion Home Health Care News; by Andrew Donlan; 5/20/24 BoldAge PACE – a Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) operator – is expanding, led by a leadership team filled with multiple home health and hospice veterans. In May, the company opened two new locations in Kentucky and Indiana, and the plan is to open up more locations in short order. As of right now, it has 14 locations spanning coast to coast, located in California, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, South Carolina, Florida and New Jersey. ... “I think there’s a lot of similarities [between PACE] and where hospice was in the ‘80s,” Russell Hilliard, the chief growth officer of BoldAge PACE, told Home Health Care News’ sister site Hospice News. ... Currently, there are 163 PACE organizations operating more than 300 centers, according to the National PACE Association. There are nearly 76,000 PACE participants across the country.

For Mental Health Month - May 2024: Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable. When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary. – Fred Rogers

Senate ramps up push to reform doctors' Medicare pay Modern Healthcare; by Michael Mcauliff; 5/20/24Declining doctors' pay in Medicare is getting its most serious look in nearly a decade in the Senate, with a bipartisan push launched Friday by the Senate Finance Committee. Doctors have grown especially vocal in recent years about falling Medicare reimbursement. Groups including the American Medical Association have estimated doctors were effectively getting paid 26% less in 2023 than in 2001 because the physician fee schedule set by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is not adjusted for inflation. Physicians have also called for more flexibility within the pay system.

End-of-life talks, planning benefit all racial groups, study finds McKnights Long-Term Care News; by Kristen Fischer ... Having formal advanced care planning (ACP) in place was linked to higher odds of receiving care that aligned with individuals’ goals, the researchers found. The study evaluated how ACP and goal-concordant care (GCC) — an approach that aims to meet the patient’s goal and includes ACP and conversations about care goals —  affected people of different races. The report was published on May 18 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.  The framework is especially important for people in racial or ethnic minority populations who have a greater risk of poor end-of-life outcomes and don’t receive GCC. ... Older adults are more likely to receive hospice care at the end of life compared to previous decades, but a lot of people still report care that didn’t meet their preferences, the authors noted.

In good hands: VA medical center introduces new inpatient hospice room and dialysis suites Salisbury Post; by Brad Dountz; 5/21/24The W.B. (Bill) Hefner Salisbury Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center ... held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new inpatient hospice room, dialysis suites and six patient care rooms earlier this month. The amenities will allow veterans to get the treatment they need. Construction began during the days of COVID, but thanks to the work of the VA employees who built it, veterans can finally reap the benefits.  “We come together to honor those who have selflessly served our country and now require specialized care. Some of them are in their final moments,” said Dr. Kamran Lateef, chief of hospital medicine. “In this sanctuary of compassion and solace, every detail has been meticulously crafted to offer the highest quality of care tailored to the unique needs of our beloved veterans.”

Patients fare better when they get palliative care sooner, not laterScientific American; by Lydia Denworth; 5/14/24Supportive care is often started late in an illness, but that may not be the best way. I was happy to have the help but wished it had been available earlier. I’m not alone in that. Evidence of the benefits of palliative care continues to grow. For people with advanced illnesses, it helps to control physical symptoms such as pain and shortness of breath. It ­addresses mental health issues, including depression and anxiety. And it can reduce unnecessary trips to the hospital. But barriers to access persist—especially a lack of providers. As a result, palliative care is too often offered late, when “the opportunity to benefit is limited,” says physician Kate Courtright of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Cybersecurity execs share healthcare's biggest vulnerabilitiesModern Healthcare; by Brock E.W. Turner; 5/20/24A recent string of massive healthcare cybersecurity breaches has put data security leaders on edge. Recent incidents have shined a light on some of the most significant vulnerabilities at health systems. Here are four of the biggest, according to experts.

NAHC hails legislation to extend Hospital at Home Waiver Program NAHC Newsroom - National Association for Home Care & Hospice; Press Release; 5/20/24 The National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) applauds the introduction in the United States Senate of the Hospital Inpatient Services Modernization Act of 2024, bipartisan legislation sponsored by Sen. Thomas Carper (D-De) and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) to extend the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Acute Hospital Care at Home waiver program for five years.  The Acute Hospital Care at Home waiver program is due to expire on December 31, 2024, but this legislation would extend it for five additional years.

Sanction-free InnovAge faces new challenges in Colorado, California during fiscal Q3McKnight's Home Care; by Adam Healy; 5/14/24InnovAge posted a loss in its third fiscal quarter, but executives of the for-profit Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly provider said business will only continue to improve as temporary headwinds fall by the wayside. “The company’s third quarter results were largely consistent with our expectations,” Patrick Blair, president and chief executive officer, said during a third quarter earnings call last week, according to a transcript. “We continue to see ongoing performance improvement in every facet of our operations which is driving greater stability in our financial results and increased confidence in our ability to deliver high-quality care and a great participant experience while also growing our top and bottom lines.” During the quarter ended March 31, InnovAge lost $6.1 million. That compares to a $7.3 million loss during the third fiscal quarter of 2023. Revenues grew by nearly 12% year-over-year to $193 million.

Breaking down walls: The other care models marking their territory in home-based careHome Health News; by Joyce Famakinwa; 5/17/24Traditional home-based care companies aren’t the only ones serving seniors, while helping shift care away from brick-and-mortar settings. Adult day, PACE and continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) without walls are a few of the care models working to meet the needs of seniors that want to age in place. In many ways, these care models are natural allies to home-based care providers.

Home-Based Care Investors Show Interest, But M&A Pace Remains CautiousHome Health Care News; by Andrew Donlan; 5/13/24Home-based care dealmakers have been busier of late, but that has not yet translated into more transactions. There’s some feeling that sidelined private equity firms will eventually have to enter the game, but that may not be the case.

UnitedHealth Group's Optum to close Ohio location, lay off 129Modern Healthcare; by Lauren Berryman; 5/17/24UnitedHealth Group’s Optum will lay off 129 employees and close a Toledo, Ohio, facility, according to a notice filed with the state's job and family services department. The separations are expected to take place in three waves, from July 15 to September 6, and will affect employees in Ohio and remote locations, Optum said in the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice filed Thursday. The affected employees include senior software engineers, senior technology product managers, associate business systems analysts and associate business operations coordinators, the notice said.

The Pennant Group acquires hospice provider Nurses on WheelsHospice News; by Jim Parker; 5/16/24The Pennant Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: PNTG) has acquired the Corpus Christi, Texas-based hospice provider Nurses on Wheels Inc. for an undisclosed amount. This is the latest in a string of acquisitions for Pennant. Earlier this month Pennant acquired Utah-based South Davis Home Health and South Davis Hospice. The company in December 2023 picked up Arizona-based Southwestern Palliative Care & Hospice after acquiring five Medicare hospice providers in multiple states the prior month. Financial terms were not disclosed in these deals.