Literature Review

Home care providers need to step up worker safety initiatives, experts sayMcKnight's Home Care; by Adam Healy; 5/14/24In the aftermath of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s citing of Elara Caring for failing to protect a worker killed on the job, safety and legal experts are urging providers to be proactive about implementing worker safety practices. “We have been seeing a rather significant uptick in workplace violence issues in the home-based care industry,” Angelo Spinola, an attorney at Polsinelli, told McKnight’s Home Care Daily Pulse, in a statement. “We highly recommend that providers take proactive steps to implement home-based care specific policies and procedures and conduct workplace trainings that address common issues such as what to do if a client is acting erratically, how to report unsafe conditions in the home [such as an unsecured firearm], de-escalation techniques, etc.”

Hospitals Are Refusing to Do Surgeries Unless You Pay in Full FirstWall Street Journal; by Melanie Evans; 5/9/24Now, more hospitals and surgery centers are demanding patients pay in advance. Advance billing helps the facilities avoid hounding patients to settle up. Yet it is distressing patients who must come up with thousands of dollars while struggling with serious conditions. Heather Miconi has seven weeks to come up with $2,000 to pay for surgery her daughter needs to breathe more easily. Merritt Island Surgery Center in Merritt Island, Fla., billed Miconi in advance of the adenoid and tonsil surgery. If she can’t pay for the surgery before it is scheduled to take place next month, the procedure will be put off. Miconi, whose insurance won’t cover the cost because she has a high deductible, works three jobs and doesn’t have savings to cover the cost. She is now appealing to strangers through a GoFundMe campaign for help. For years, hospitals and surgery centers waited to perform procedures before sending bills to patients. That often left them chasing after patients for payment, repeatedly sending invoices and enlisting debt collectors. Those who can’t come up with the sums have been forced to put off procedures. Some who paid up discovered later they were overcharged, then had to fight for refunds. Among the procedures that hospitals and surgery centers are seeking prepayments for are knee replacements, CT scans and births.

Surging hospital prices are helping keep inflation highWall Street Journal; by Melanie Evans; 5/16/24A 7.7% increase in prices at hospitals last month was the highest in 13 years. ... Hospitals didn’t raise prices as early in the pandemic as supermarkets, retailers and restaurants. But they have been making up ground since then. Their increases have contributed to stubbornly high inflation readings from the consumer-price index, which in April increased 3.4% from a year ago. Hospital prices specifically jumped 7.7% last month from a year ago, the highest increase in any month since October 2010, the Labor Department said Wednesday. ... Hospitals sat out the first waves of inflation that swept through the economy in recent years, though not by choice. Their prices were locked in under contracts with health insurers, for more than a year in some cases. As hospitals have renegotiated prices, inflation has taken hold.

‘Great Resignation’ becomes ‘Great Reshuffle’ of American jobsMcKnight's Senior Living; by Kathleen Steele Gaivin; 5/16/24After a record number of workers left their jobs in the early part of the decade in what was known as the “Great Resignation,” the American workforce has entered a period now dubbed the “Great Reshuffle,” according to the World Economic Forum. “While quit rates remain high, hiring rates continue to outpace them as many workers have been transitioning to other jobs in search of an improved work-life balance and flexibility, increased compensation, or a strong company culture,” the US Chamber of Commerce reported.

Aveanna is looking to grow in its ‘rightsized’ home health segment again Home Health Care News; by Andrew Donlan; 5/14/24 Aveanna Healthcare Holdings leaders believe the company is back at a place where it can bank on near-term growth in its Medicare-certified home health business. It first entered into a business “transformation” in January 2023, and that transformation is already paying dividends, according to CEO Jeff Shaner. But much of the turnaround has been led by the private-duty services segment. Now, Shaner sees a path for the company to begin accelerating its home health and hospice lines. 

Life Coordinated Commonwealth Pace holds ribbon cutting Marshall County Daily; by Staff Report; 5/10/24 Life Coordinated Commonwealth Pace held a Ribbon Cutting on Friday morning with special quest Governor Andy Beshear in attendance to launch the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the elderly in Western Kentucky. This is the first of three planned KY Pace centers which provide elders an option for in-home care versus nursing home care.  Life Coordinated Commonwealth Pace will serve qualifying PACE members in a six-county area in Western Kentucky that includes Marshall, Calloway, Graves, Hickman, Fulton and McCracken.

Highmark Health lays off dozens of employees Modern Healthcare; by Lauren Berryman; 5/8/24Highmark Health has laid off 47 employees in its latest round of job cuts. The Pittsburgh-headquartered organization owns Highmark Inc., which provides health insurance plans to 6.9 million policyholders in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware and New York. It also operates Allegheny Health Network, which comprises 14 hospitals. A Highmark spokesperson declined to answer questions about the types of roles or specific locations affected. ... The most recent layoffs, which were first reported by news outlet PennLive Tuesday, follow the 182 jobs Highmark eliminated in March. The organization has laid off at least 229 employees so far in 2024.

Caring for the Caregiver: A Guide for Home Care Providers Forbes; by Joan Ekobena; 5/8/24This article proposes that nurturing the psychological and physical well-being of caregivers [employees] is essential. It’s not just a matter of ethical responsibility but a fundamental factor for maintaining quality care, promoting continuity of care and boosting employee retention. This can create a positive ripple effect, which can not only increase customer satisfaction but also boost business revenue. ... A recent decision by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) underscores the increasing awareness of the need to invest in caregiver wellness. Guides are listed as "Strategies for Supporting Caregiver Wellness and Mindset": ... [Note: "Caregiver" denotes employees who provide home care, not the family "caregiver" in the home.] 

Georgia system reopens hospital to inpatient services Hospital CFO Report; by Mariah Taylor; 5/2/24 Piedmont Augusta (GA) is reopening the emergency department and inpatient services at its Summerville campus after converting the location into an outpatient campus over a year ago. Effective May 16, the hospital will open 15 beds in the emergency department, 12 inpatient unit beds, and new imaging services. Outpatient services will continue as normal, according to a May 1 system news release. "What we heard pretty quickly from our community is that they missed the efficiency of that campus," Lily Henson, MD, CEO of Piedmont's Augusta clinical hub, said in the release.

Stranded in the ER, seniors await hospital care and suffer avoidable harm KFF Health News; by Judith Graham; 5/6/24 Every day, the scene plays out in hospitals across America: Older men and women lie on gurneys in emergency room corridors moaning or suffering silently as harried medical staff attend to crises. Even when physicians determine these patients need to be admitted to the hospital, they often wait for hours — sometimes more than a day — in the ER in pain and discomfort, not getting enough food or water, not moving around, not being helped to the bathroom, and not getting the kind of care doctors deem necessary.

Elara Caring, cited in death of visiting nurse Joyce Grayson, vows to contest violation McKnights Home Care; by Adam Healy; 5/3/24 The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited home health, hospice and personal care provider Elara Caring for failing to provide adequate safeguards to protect visiting nurse Joyce Grayson from workplace violence. Grayson, a licensed practical nurse, was killed last Oct. 28 while providing a home health visit for a client living in a halfway house in Willimantic, CT.  The DOL disclosed this week that its OSHA division cited New England Home Care, where Grayson worked, and Jordan Health Care Inc., which both do business as Elara Caring, with a “Willful-Serious” citation. Elara Caring faces up to $163,627 in penalties resulting from the citation. ...

Fallon Health plans to expand inclusive care program into Southeastern Massachusetts SouthCoast Today, The Standard-Times; by Kathryn Gallerani; 5/3/24 Fallon Health, a not-for-profit healthcare services organization based in Worcester with more than 45 years of experience providing care, has plans to open a new Summit ElderCare PACE Center in Dartmouth by the end of this year. PACE, a Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly, provides services to adults 55 and older, including adults with complex medical needs, so they can age with dignity in their home or community. It's the biggest PACE program in Massachusetts. ... The other Massachusetts Fallon PACE locations are in Webster, Lowell, Leominster and Springfield. Fallon also has a PACE in western New York.

Optum layoffs affect teams in Medicare Advantage I-SNP, IE-SNP business Skilled Nursing News; by Zahida Siddiqu; 5/2/24 Optum is paring back its workforce, including in the parts of the business related to Medicare Advantage plans for nursing home and assisted living residents. ... The recent layoffs at Optum number hundreds of people across various parts of the company, according to multiple news reports. The company is discontinuing its virtual care business, as Endpoints first confirmed. ... Multiple sources have shared that out of a roughly 20% to 30% of a 400-person workforce [in IE-SNP business] has been laid off in this part of Optum. ... The reduction in staff was across the board from senior leaders on the clinical end to low-level employees, industry sources said.