Is your agency’s care coordination making the grade?.From survey scrutiny to performance scores under Value-Based Purchasing, reasons are mounting for both home health and hospice agencies to structure regular care coordination...

Sequestration is back – with a 1 percent pay cut.Providers doing business with Medicare will get paid a little less for services rendered this month, as part of an incremental return to pre-COVID business-as-usual for a punitive...

Expected increased survey scrutiny for unvaccinated agency staff.By Sheila Salisbury-Sizemore RN, BSN SimiTree Senior Manager, Compliance   Now that the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS has retired the Focused...

New transfer and discharge billing procedure for hospice.The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is issuing a new billing requirement to close the gap on hospice care and billing when a hospice patient transfers from one...

How does your agency measure nursing productivity?.With the cost of skilled labor rising quarter over quarter, as we reported in the January issue of The Insider, agencies may be looking to maximize productivity from their...

Agents of Change.Profitability hinges on ensuring accountability across all operations   The cost of doing business is on the rise, creating tighter profit margins and underscoring the need for...

Staffing Shortage Forces Overtime Scrutiny.Home health and hospice agencies scrambling to field workers under the pinch of a nationwide staffing shortage could be vulnerable to increased risk of wage and hour violations,...

Defining Palliative Care: It’s Not Hospice Light.By Maureen Kelleher RN, MBA Senior Manager   Palliative Care is the care of patients with serious illness who have symptoms throughout the illness, not just at life’s...