Home Health

New survey results look at pandemic impact on health care workers

On Tuesday, April 6, the Kaiser Family Foundation and The Washington Post released more survey results from conversations with 1,327 frontline health care workers, including more than 290 working in the home. Participants were surveyed Feb. 11- March 7, 2021. And while most health care workers said their employer was “doing about the right amount” …

Skilled Nursing Facility

High intensity therapy may lead to better outcomes for residents

SNF residents who receive high intensity therapy have the lowest 30-day hospital readmission rates, according to a new study conducted by the American Occupational Therapy Association, and the American Physical Therapy Association. High intensity therapy is defined as 90 to 219 hours during the time of care. While the study shows that high intensity therapy …

Featured Event

Home Health Coding Summit

Coming together, coding together. Join us as we focused on coding accuracy (including COVID-19 codes), the importance of coding in PDGM, a look at new codes and guidance updates, strategies for professional development, process improvement around timely billing and gathering documentation and more.

Post-Acute Advisor Podcast

Re-evaluating Payment After a Year of COVID

With us today is Maureen McCarthy. Maureen is president of Celtic Consulting, LLC, and CEO and founder of Care Transitions, LLP, a care coordination service provider. We discuss how reimbursement avenues have changed in the past year, and how SNFs need to consider what might change as the pandemic hopefully improves.

Home Health

CMS proposes hospice rule changes to rates, CoPs, quality measures

CMS released several proposed rules late Thursday, including the FY 2022 Hospice Payment Rate Update. “Despite the continuing public health emergency (PHE) generated by COVID-19, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is pushing forward with significant changes for hospice,” the National Association for Home Care and Hospice noted in its initial analysis of …

PPS Alert for Long-Term Care

Respiratory disorders

The respiratory tract inhales oxygen into the lungs, transfers the oxygen to the blood, and exhales carbon dioxide. Breathing is usually automatic, controlled subconsciously by the respiratory center at the base of the brain. The brain senses when oxygen levels are too low or carbon dioxide levels are too high and increases the speed and depth of breathing. Normal respiration occurs 12–20 times per minute.