The Home Health Care Wire
Your source for CareVoyant and industry news. June 08, 2022
Home and Community-Based Services: A Primer
Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) provide Medicaid beneficiaries opportunities to receive services in their own home or community rather than institutions or other isolated settings. These programs serve various targeted population groups, such as people with intellectual or developmental disabilities, physical disabilities, and mental illnesses.
In the absence of other viable public or private options to finance current and future LTSS needs for people of all ages, Medicaid will continue to be the major financing and delivery system for Home and Community Based Services for millions of Americans. Addressing community-based provider shortages and streamlining access to community-based care that supports functional independence and enhancing the quality of life will remain key objectives of states’ rebalancing efforts as the need for Medicaid HCBS continues to grow.
At CareVoyant, we are empowering home and community-based services providers by developing cost-effective software solutions for care delivery and revenue cycle management.
Consumer Directed Services (CDS) are home healthcare services offered by Medicaid or Medicaid waiver programs where the consumer (Patient) can hire the caregiver and coordinate the services authorized.
Medicaid or Medicaid Waiver programs authorize Consumer Directed Services with limits on the number of hours of services provided per day or per month. These limits add another layer of challenge to the agencies. They have to limit the services provided under authorized hours even though they do not have complete control over the hiring of caregivers and managing their services.
When services go over authorized hours, the agencies face the uncomfortable task of telling the caregivers that they may not get paid for the services provided over authorized hours.
An effective software platform should have the functions and features to help agencies manage the challenges posed by Consumer Directed Services.
Nurses providing Private Duty Nursing care work in longer shifts providing continuous care for the same patient. They need to collect and document Vitals and Measurements (Vent Settings, Trach Settings, Cough Logs, Seizure Logs, etc.) and administer medications and treatments multiple times during the shift. Providing continuous care in a longer shift creates unique documentation challenges for nurses and Private Duty Home Care agencies.
A software platform should accommodate the challenges of Continuous Care Documentation for Private Duty Nursing Home Care Agencies.
Home Healthcare Industry News
HHS Extends States’ Deadline to Utilize American Rescue Plan’s HCBS Funding
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) – through the U.S Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) – announced that states would have an additional year to use funding from the American Rescue Plan to both enhance and expand home- and community-based services (HCBS).
HHS Applauds 12-Month Postpartum Expansion in California, Florida, Kentucky, and Oregon
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) approved California, Florida, Kentucky, and Oregon actions to expand Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage to 12 months postpartum for a total of an additional 126,000 families across their states, annually—supporting 57,000; 52,000; 10,000; and 7,000 parents, respectively.
ABOUT CAREVOYANT
CareVoyant is a leading provider of cloud-based integrated enterprise-scale home health care software that can support all home-based services under ONE Software, ONE Patient, and ONE Employee, making it a Single System of Record. We support all home care lines of service, including Home Care, Private Duty Nursing, Private Duty Non-Medical, Home and Community Based Services (HCBS), Home Health, Pediatric Home Care, and Outpatient Therapy.
CareVoyant functions – Intake, Scheduling, Clinical with Mobile options, electronic visit verification, eMAR/eTAR, Financial, Secure Messaging, Notification, Reporting, and Dashboards – streamline workflow, meet regulatory requirements, improve quality of care, optimize reimbursement, and bring operational efficiency.
For more information, please visit CareVoyant.com or call us at 1-888-463-6797.