Literature Review

Dartmouth Health finances improveValley News (West Lebanon, NH)/VT DiggerNovember 29, 2023Lebanon, NH—Dartmouth Health continues to see a financial loss on operations, but the red ink has subsided substantially since last year, according to filings with bondholders last week. For the first quarter of fiscal year 2024, which ended Sept. 30, DH saw an operating loss of $8.2 million, or 1%.  Overall, including SVHC, expenses were up about 10% to $844 million for the first quarter of the year, over the same period last year. ... Meanwhile, revenues were up nearly 15%, or $107.5 million, compared with the same quarter last year. That was partially aided by SVHC’s membership, as well as by growth in patient volumes, contracted payment rates and higher inpatient acuity at DHMC, the system’s flagship academic medical center.

Patient-centered medical homes can reduce care cost of chronically ill patients, study findsMcKnight’s Home Care DailyDecember 5, 2023High-cost patients receiving care through patient-centered medical home programs are less likely to remain high-cost in the long term, according to a recent study published in the American Journal of Managed Care. ... The researchers compared the healthcare expenditures and health outcomes of thousands of PCMH and non-PCMH patients across Maryland during the state’s Multi-Payer PCMH program. They found that high-cost patients, such as those with chronic conditions, frailty or greater rates of hospital or ambulance usage, experienced better health outcomes with less health service utilization. 

New Analysis Shows How Unaffordable Home Care Is Becoming For American SeniorsHome Health Care NewsDecember 4, 2023Most Americans will need some sort of in-home care support as they age. The issue is that many of them cannot afford it. ... Only 14% of American seniors can afford to do so [pay for personal care services], however, according to a new analysis conducted by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.

NY latest to adopt LGBTQ+ Bill of Rights for long-term care residentsMcKnight’s Senior LivingDecember 4, 2023New York has become the latest state to adopt legislation establishing a bill of rights for LGBTQ+ residents in other long-term care facilities. S 1783A / A 372 prohibits assisted living communities and other long-term care facilities and their staffs from discriminating against residents on the basis of actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or HIV status.

Nurse-led geriatric primary care model offers care benefits for seniorsMcKnight’s Long Term Care NewsDecember 4, 2023A new study found that integrating Geriatric Interdisciplinary Team Training-Primary Care (GITT-PC) can improve primary care for older adults. Essentially, GITT-PC trains healthcare workers to function as a team while integrating geriatric care into primary care settings. It can focus on using nurses instead of doctors. Overall, the model aims to change practices by leveraging Medicare reimbursement billable codes for Annual Wellness Visit (AWV), Chronic Care Management (CCM), Advance Care Planning (ACP) and Dementia services. The study was published Friday in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Dying Broke: The High Cost Of Help Desperate Families Search for Affordable Home CareNew York TimesDecember 2, 2023... Frank Lee’s search for trustworthy home health aides—an experience that millions of American families face—has often been exhausting and infuriating, but he has persisted. ... There is precious little assistance from the government for families who need a home health aide unless they are poor. The people working in these jobs are often woefully underpaid and unprepared to help a frail, elderly person with dementia to bathe and use the bathroom, or to defuse an angry outburst.[Editor’s Note: This article is part of The New York Times’ “Dying Broke” series examining how the immense financial costs of long-term care drain older Americans and their families. For additional coverage, see the accompanying article in this package, “What to Know About Home Care Services: Finding an aide to help an older person stay at home safely takes work. Here’s a guide.“]

Trinity slims operating loss to $58.6M in FY Q1Becker’s Hospital CFO ReportDecember 1, 2023Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health reported an operating loss of $58.6 million (-1% margin) in the first quarter of the fiscal year—the three months ended Sept. 30—compared to a $146.3 million loss (-2.9% margin) during the same period in 2022. For the fiscal first quarter, operating revenue increased 12.4% year over year to $5.6 billion.

Nursing Home Occupancy ‘Disappointingly Flat’ in November but States’ Medicaid Rebasing EncouragingSkilled Nursing NewsDecember 1, 2023Healthcare Real Estate Investment Trusts specializing in post-acute care facilities experienced “disappointingly flat” occupancy rates in November, according to investment analysts. BMO Capital Market’s Juan Sanabria highlighted the challenges faced by skilled nursing facilities in maintaining growth, with market share loss to home health. ... In terms of REIT exposure and risks, the note pointed out that SNF coverage appeared to have bottomed out as occupancy and labor availability had improved. This trend is evident from recent quarterly earnings from several large publicly-traded REITs.

Humana Partners With CINQCARE To Deliver Home-Based Care To Medicare Advantage MembersHome Health Care NewsNovember 30, 2023Humana Inc. has formed a partnership with CINQCARE, a health care company that delivers care in the home and community. ... As part of the collaboration, the companies will serve Humana’s New York Medicare Advantage members in their homes.

Nursing Homes’ Letter to CMS Calls Out Lack of Teeth—and Clarity—in Final Rule’s Medicare Advantage ReformSkilled Nursing NewsDecember 1, 2023In order to keep Medicare Advantage plans in check for denial of services, provider organizations are pressuring federal authorities to do more, and asking them to closely monitor and aggressively enforce reforms for these plans as envisioned in a final rule that takes effect on Jan. 1. Companies managing MA plans have said they don’t believe they need to do anything different, based on what was laid out in the final rule, a worrying concern that needs to be addressed, providers said, who are also seeking to gain clarity on how the Center for Medicare & Medicaid will monitor MA plans’ compliance. To that end, nursing home and hospital associations are seeking to influence the implementation of CMS’s rule regarding MA plans.

Cleveland Clinic cuts operating loss to $14.9M in Q3

Dartmouth Health says it will not conduct more layoffs

Four Iowa care facilities added to federal watchlist of nursing homes