In The News

Unlock Success in 2025: Strategic Insights on the Home Health Final Rule

Netsmart | Mcbee

Friday, November 8 at 11:00 a.m. MT

With the anticipated release of the CY 2025 Home Health Final Rule by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), you might have some questions.

Join us for an upcoming webinar where McBee experts Jeff Aaronson and Lisa Selman-Holman will reflect on their key takeaways from the Final Rule. They will also share strategies for clinical and financial success moving forward.

Unlocking Success in 2025: Strategic Insights on the Home Health Final Rule
Friday, November 8
1:00 to 2:00 p.m. ET

Click here to register!
 

Report: Home Health Referrals Up, Acceptance Down

NAHC Report

Home health agencies are generating more referrals from their acute care partners, but acceptance of those referred patients is not keeping pace, according to the new “Evolution of Care” report from WellSky, that examined data from about 130,000 health care providers, including home health agencies, hospitals, and other sources.

Home health referrals are up about six percent in the last year, according to the report, which about doubles the growth in referrals to skilled nursing facilities. Last year, home health saw a 22 percent average increase in the total number of referral gains in 2023. “Demand for post-acute care shows no signs of slowing,” wrote the report’s authors. “The growth in referral volume likely reflects the increasing demand for post-acute care by older, more medically complex patients.”

Interestingly, referral volume is higher now than it was before the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting the pandemic has had an enduring impact on the demand for post-acute care in the United States.

However, the share of referred patients accepted to post-acute care is declining, with less than 35 percent of refferals accepted by home health agencies of of October 2023. That’s a drop from before the pandemic, when almost half of all patients referred were accepted, according to the report.

“Acute providers are still struggling to secure post-acute care in a timely manner for their patients,” reads the report. “While [SNF] acceptance rates have improved since our last report, they remain lower than pre-pandemic levels. In contrast, home health acceptance rates remain consistently and significantly lower than pre-pandemic acceptance rates, despite home health receiving more referrals per patient.

 

State Health Department Expands COVID Tracking to All Virus Data on New Dashboard

CPR News By John Daley

Starting [last] week, there is one website where Coloradans can see what's happening with respiratory viruses in the state.

The state health department launched its COVID-19 dashboard after the pandemic hit; it first appeared on March 17, 2020, right after the first cases were detected in Colorado. Residents went there to track the latest updated virus data and trends.

For instance, in the week of Oct. 8, 2024, there were 143 people hospitalized with coronavirus, which compares with the pandemic peak of 1,847 on Dec. 1, 2020.

The agency also posted information about other viruses on another dashboard. 

Now it's combining all statewide respiratory virus data on one dashboard starting Wednesday afternoon, a change that better corresponds with information displayed by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It'll include details about COVID-19, flu and RSV. 

Pandemic metrics are still provided

The state's epidemiologist said the new dashboard will still provide information about COVID-19 metrics like hospitalizations, deaths, variants and more. It will also display information about multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C).

“As we continue to transition our approach to monitoring COVID-19, data will focus on the leading indicators of trends and severity including hospitalizations, emergency department visits, percent positivity from sentinel laboratories, deaths due to COVID-19, variants, and wastewater,” state epidemiologist Dr. Rachel Herlihy said.

The updates to CDPHE’s dashboard are consistent with the changing epidemiology of COVID-19 and continue to give information on circulating levels of flu and RSV, said  Dr. Michelle Barron, senior medical director of infection prevention and control for UCHealth, via email. “Having this data is a great resource for those wanting to know what might be causing their cold/flu symptoms and what precautions they may want to consider,” she said.

With the combined site, people will be able to more easily see relative levels of each virus in a way that’s easier to navigate, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, in a press release. 

The new dashboard brings changes to the presentation of data some Coloradans often view and download. “Because the visualizations will change, we will publish new data tables that mirror the data displayed,” the release said.

Not all the data provided earlier will be posted... 

Read Full Article 

 

As IV Shortage Continues After Hurricane, U.S. Invokes Wartime Power to Speed Recovery

CBS News Healthwatch | By Alexander Tin

The Biden administration says it has invoked the wartime powers of the Defense Production Act to speed rebuilding of a major American factory of intravenous fluids that was wrecked by Hurricane Helene last month. Damage to the plant in North Carolina has worsened a nationwide shortage of IV fluids, and hospitals say they are still postponing some surgeries and other procedures as a result. 

Some 60% of the nation's IV supplies had relied on production from the plant, run by medical supplier Baxter, before it was damaged by the storm.

"Ensuring people have medical supplies they need is a top priority of the Administration. It's exactly why we are working closely with Baxter to support cleanup and restoration of the facility, including invoking the Defense Production Act to help production resume as quickly as possible," an official with the Department of Health and Human Services told CBS News on Tuesday.

A spokesperson for the federal Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response said the federal government had wielded the act's authorities to push Baxter to the front of the line for a contractor needed for construction in the plant. ASPR officials are now looking into other ways that the powers might be able to accelerate rebuilding or help other domestic manufacturers ramp up.

The Defense Production Act was previously used by the Trump and Biden administrations to boost manufacturing of items like test swabs, ventilators and vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the factory remains offline, the Food and Drug Administration has greenlighted Baxter to import IV fluids from its other plants around the world. Officials say they are also backing plans to airlift more supplies into the U.S.

"It turns out, a huge part of my time has been taken up, including today, on very basic supply chain issues across every commodity that we regulate," FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said earlier this month at a meeting of the agency's science advisers.

Califf warned shortages were likely to worsen in the coming years, as many generic drugmakers are racing to cut costs amid growing threats to supply chains…

Read Full Article 
 

 

DEA Sends 3rd Temporary Extension of Telemedicine Prescribing Rules to White House

Fierce Healthcare | By Emma Beavins
 
The Drug Enforcement Administration is poised to extend pandemic-era telehealth prescribing rules for a third time.
 
The agency sent a rule titled third temporary extension of pandemic-era telehealth prescribing rules to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) last Thursday. Rules must clear OMB review before being published in the Federal Register.
It remains to be seen if the rule will clear OMB given the infighting sources say has been occurring between DEA and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) over the guardrails for telehealth prescribing of controlled substances.  
 
A third temporary extension of the rules would allow telemedicine companies to continue prescribing schedule II-V controlled substances without requiring an in-person visit for a patient. One source told Fierce Healthcare the extension would last for one year.
 
If the extension goes through, it could bail out the telemedicine companies who have been concerned about the future of telehealth prescribing and the upcoming deadline at the end of the year. 
 
A third extension would likely punt the decision about a second DEA-proposed rulemaking into the next administration, whether under former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris. 
 
The DEA submitted a second NPRM to the White House in June. In late August, a former DEA official gave the details of the rule to Politico and to several lobbyists working closely on extending the telemedicine flexibilities.  
 
According to Politico’s reporting, the second rule would have required half of a provider’s controlled substance prescribing to occur in person. It also would have required providers to check every state’s prescription drug monitoring program to see if the patient had been prescribed the medication in another state. Providers have pointed out that this is currently infeasible.  
 
Reportedly, the rule excluded schedule II substances like Adderall. A source who reviewed the second DEA rule told Fierce Healthcare that is not true. According to the source, the rule includes the ability to prescribe schedule II substances, but with heavy-handed restrictions to the point that the drugs would be virtually impossible to prescribe, the source said.  
 
A cadre of industry groups have pleaded with the DEA, White House and members of Congress to block the rule…

Read Full Article

 
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