Home Healthcare Wire
Rising demand for home healthcare services, changing business models, the shift of higher acuity care services to the home, changing role of home care software to improve agency operations, and the impact of labor shortage on home care are some of the trends that will define home healthcare industry in 2022
2020 and 2021 have been challenging years for home care agencies across the United States. The devastating impact of 2020’s COVID-19 lockdown meant that home care agencies faced a problem they had not experienced ever before. On one side, more patients prefer receiving care at home, on the other side, there are staffing challenges of finding the caregivers to help them cope up with the demand.
Recognize that the needs of Private Duty Nursing for pediatric care are very specific. While this could be a profitable service line, the requirements such as round-the-clock nursing, ability to connect with children, more complex scheduling, and most importantly, the right nursing talent, make this a very challenging area.
As most Home Health Care agencies already provide Therapy Services as part of the Medicare Part A program, providing Outpatient Therapy Services at home under Medicare Part B or commercial payers will be a natural extension of services. Home Health Care agencies do not require any additional licenses to provide outpatient therapy services and the rapid rise in demand for in-home outpatient services provides additional revenue opportunities for agencies.
A software platform designed to handle both home health care and outpatient services will provide a unique advantage to agencies.
Private Duty Home Care agencies can use the right technology and software platform to manage the challenges posed by unique and demanding requirements of providing skilled care at home. Using the right tools will enable home health care agencies to bring operational efficiencies to the organization and take advantage of these new opportunities.
Starting January 1, 2022, Medicare will require Home Health Agencies to submit a one-time Notice of Admission (NOA) instead of Request for anticipated Payment (RAP). Medicare has been phasing out RAP payments for the last two years. The NOA is a one-time submission that establishes the HH POC and covers 30-day payment periods until the patient is discharged.
Software platforms will have to be adjusted to accommodate the new PDGM billing process. The following are some of the requirements.
Home Health Care Agencies should implement Clinical Documentation Improvement (CDI) programs to understand that clinical documentation starts at referral and must be managed throughout patient care (Admit through Discharge). Home care agencies should identify characteristics for quality documentation and implement a CDI program.
Optimal management of resources is a priority for Home Care agencies providing clinical and non-clinical services. With strict federal regulations around verification of visits, clinical documentation, and billing for services, they must look for software that helps them schedule caregiver visits optimally, document visits, and bill on time.
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.
Home Health Care Agencies should implement Clinical Document Improvement (CDI) programs to understand that clinical documentation starts at referral and must be managed throughout patient care (Admit through Discharge). Home care agencies should identify key characteristics of the clinical documentation, come up with the right Clinical Documentation Improvement program, and use the right software platform with tools to monitor and improve the quality of clinical documentation.
Scheduling employee visits optimally is crucial to your Home Healthcare Agency’s financial success. A great scheduling software should allow you to balance multiple variables such as matching the right employee to the right patient, travel time optimization, client preferences, balancing overtime pay, etc.
CareVoyant understands the demanding requirements to manage Home and Community Based Services while managing other services like Private Duty Nursing, Non-Medical Personal Care, and Home Health. CareVoyant software platform provides tools that will help a home health care agency to effectively manage Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) along with other service lines.
CareVoyant Home Care is an integrated cloud-based software with ONE Patient and ONE Employee record for Private Duty Nursing, Personal Care, HCBS, and Home Health for Medicaid with EVV, Private Insurance, Private Pay, and Medicare. Learn more about our software and its features.
Home Health Care agencies should take a holistic view of their needs for a software platform rather than just focusing on their EVV needs. Using an integrated home care software platform to meet all the requirements of a home care agency will provide significant benefits that will outweigh the cost savings of ‘Free’ EVV.
