CellTrak Blog

The newly updated Home Health Conditions of Participation (CoPs) rule, effective July 13, 2017, aims to strengthen patients’ rights, facilitate communication among caregivers, and improve the quality of home health services. How will these revisions affect the way your home care agency communicates and delivers services?

The 21^st Century Cures Act includes sweeping changes to funding biomedical research, approving drugs and medical devices, and improving mental health. Several of these changes have direct implications for the home care industry – from major new regulations on Medicaid reimbursements to more minor tweaks to the small business insurance market and hospital readmission penalties.

In an industry that has been challenged with many uncertainties, Congress approved the 21^st Century Cures Act in early December. The bill passed strongly in both the Senate (94 to 5) and the House of Representatives (392 to 26), and President Obama signed the bill on December 13, 2016.

As we look back on some of the key stories of 2016 for home care agencies, one leaps out repeatedly: Medicare fraud.

For the typical home care agency caregiver, providing care consumes only a sliver of time. The majority of time is spent checking the schedule, travelling to client homes, reviewing the care plan, verifying visits, reporting mileage, and adding notes from visits.

Implementing the right care delivery software can change this all.

With a growing number of government and payer mandates calling for home health agencies to validate the accuracy of the care they deliver, Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) has never been more important for the home care industry.

As the market for home care services continues growing at a rapid clip, agencies are finding it tougher to find and keep qualified caregivers. According to a recent survey by CareInHomes Caregivers, 76% of private duty agencies were looking to hire more caregivers this year, and the trend points to that continuing in 2017. But along with that opportunity come significant challenges. In that same survey, the respondents said their two greatest challenges were:

Have you ever heard someone say, “Well, there are lots of moving pieces”? That’s a typical refrain when they’re trying to describe a complex plan involving multiple groups and goals.

In home care, paperwork is everywhere – between the field and the office and between your agency and all types of third parties. Admission forms, schedules, point-of-care documentation, payroll processing, and care documentation for third parties – paper is often king.

Across the United States, the “Fight for $15” movement has taken hold in many industries that employ hourly workers, and home care is one of them.