ACHH Graduate Virtual Journal Club

When: Thursday, September 14, 2023 | 7:00pm - 8:30pm Eastern 

The ACHH faculty have worked with the APTA Home Health Board to initiate a journal club exclusively for the PT and PTA graduates of the ACHH certification program.

The FREE ACHH journal club will take place three times a year on the second Thursday of January, May, and September, from 7:00pm – 8:30pm EST.  The first 30 minutes will be a happy hour of networking and discussion and then one member will lead a guided journal club.  Participation in the club will carry points towards recertification, with one point for each club attended, to a maximum of 5, and 3 points for the individual leading the discussion.  The club will be held virtually, and details and the link will be sent by the section to all graduates of the program.  It is planned that the topics will rotate through different major areas such as neurological, cardiopulmonary, musculoskeletal and issues specific to PTAs. 

The next event will be on Thursday, September 14, 2023. Any volunteers to lead journal discussions in the subsequent meetings will be appreciated. Remember - 3 points will be awarded towards your ACHH Certification Renewal if you volunteer to lead these discussions. If interested, please email us at [email protected].

ACHH program graduates, click here to register for free! 

APTA Comments to CMS on CY 2024 HH PPS Proposed Rule

APTA has submitted extensive comments to CMS on CY 2024 HH PPS Proposed Rule, which were developed with input from members of the Post-Acute Care Workgroup.

Please click here to read the full letter that was submitted. 

Call for Alternative Payment Models

The APTA Health Policy and Payment team is looking to connect with members who have experience with Alternative Payment Models. If you or a colleague have participated in, developed, or implemented models of reimbursement outside of the traditional fee-for-service model, please consider connecting with APTA to share your involvement. APTA plans to compile these APMs into an easy-to-understand resource for members to utilize when looking to enter this space, with the goal of transforming the way physical therapist services are reimbursed in the years to come.

Please email [email protected] to indicate your interest and they will set up a time to connect with you.

Providers Take Aim at Proposed Home Health Medicare Cuts, Hospice SFP in CMS Comments

McKnight’s Home Care | By Liza Berger
 
Presenting detailed arguments about the impact of a 2.2% Medicare payment cut on the home health industry, providers asked the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to not implement temporary or permanent behavioral adjustments next year.
 
“We strongly recommend that CMS … withhold any such adjustments in 2024 to provide the opportunity for a full and deep review of the direction of the home health benefit, its impact on access to care and options to preserve a longstanding benefit …,” the National Association for Home Care & Hospice said in its 36 pages of comments to CMS.
 
All the major home care associations and many individual providers and supporting firms weighed in on the controversial proposed rule. Comments were due to the agency on Tuesday.
 
At issue is the total 2.2% Medicare payment reduction proposed for 2024. This includes a 5.653% permanent cut to Medicare’s home health agency rates. The latter follows a 3.925% permanent reduction put in place for 2023.
 
Providers argued that this loss in Medicare funds hurts access to home health. One reason: Agencies must reject cases due to staffing shortages, and the industry already is struggling with this problem thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. LeadingAge in its comments cited a CarePort survey that found that there was a 40% increase in home health agency referral rejection rates between its 2022 and 2023 reports. And Homecare Homebase reported that the percentage of referral rejections due to the staffing shortage rose from 3.8% at the beginning of 2020 (when the Patient-Driven Groupings Model payment system was implemented) to 12.1% at the beginning of 2023.
 
“The staffing crisis is a perfect storm — the competition for staff has never been stiffer due to the pandemic,” LeadingAge said in its comments. “Home health agencies had difficulty competing for staff with hospitals, insurance companies and other opportunities prior to the pandemic; that competition is even fiercer now. The continued downward pressure on payment could not come at a worse moment — the result is going to be decreased access to care, especially for those who need it most.”
 
The Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare, which represents home health agencies, echoed these concerns in its comments.
 
“CMS must assess the on-the-ground realities for patients, clinicians and HHAs and finalize a 2024 HH PPS that allows the sector to stabilize, rather than perpetuating a downward spiral,” the Partnership said. “Finalizing the rule as proposed will continue the demise of the home health benefit, to the detriment of beneficiaries, particularly the most vulnerable.”
 
Rate cuts over the years have resulted in home health agency closures, reduced service areas, reduced admissions and reduced scope of services, NAHC said. Home health agencies with current negative Medicare margins would face significant financial difficulties in absorbing the proposed additional 5.653% rate cut for 2024. Some 52.7% of freestanding home health agencies would be “underwater” with overall margins below 0% assuming no change in costs compared to 2022, according to NAHC.
 
Providers also pointed out that Medicare helps to subsidize programs that don’t pay as handsomely, namely Medicaid and Medicare Advantage.
 
“Changing payment rates in traditional Medicare has a ripple effect on the entire patient population of an HHA,” NAHC said. “That is particularly the case when the other payers are highly unlikely to step up and improve their payment rates as we have here in home health with Medicare Advantage and Medicaid, both having rate setting power that is sanctioned by CMS.”

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