Category: Advocacy

CMS Releases Proposed Rule on ACOs

A proposed rule has been released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for comment regarding the formation of Accountable Care Organizations or ACO’s, which create incentives for health care providers to work together to treat an individual patient across care settings.

Section 3022 of the Affordable Care Act created the Medicare Shared Savings Program that is intended to encourage providers of services and suppliers to create a new type of health care entity, which the statute calls an Accountable Care Organization. The proposed rule mentions home health, but it is important that comments on the rule are submitted to ensure that home health agencies are active participants in every ACO. Given the ACO initiative’s mission of caring for patients more efficiently and at a lower cost, this is an excellent opportunity for agencies to speak up.

The proposed rule was released on March 31 and comments will be accepted by CMS for 60 days.  You can comment:

  • By regular mail. You may mail written comments to the following address ONLY:

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services,
Department of Health and Human Services,
Attention: CMS-1345-P,
P.O. Box 8013,
Baltimore, MD 21244-8013.

Below is the full announcement from CMS on the Medicare Shared Savings Program that includes a summery of the Affordable Care Act provision on ACO’s and some information from the proposed rule.

SUMMARY OF PROPOSED RULE PROVISIONS FOR ACCOUNTABLE CARE ORGANIZATIONS UNDER THE MEDICARE SHARED SAVINGS PROGRAM

Overview

On March 31, 2011, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), proposed new rules under the Affordable Care Act to help doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers better coordinate care for Medicare patients through Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs).  ACOs create incentives for health care providers to work together to treat an individual patient across care settings – including doctor’s offices, hospitals, and long-term care facilities.  The Medicare Shared Savings Program will reward ACOs that lower growth in health care costs while meeting performance standards on quality of care and putting patients first.  Patient and provider participation in an ACO is purely voluntary.

In developing the proposed rule, CMS has worked closely with agencies across the Federal government to ensure a coordinated and aligned inter- and intra-agency effort to facilitate implementation of the Medicare Shared Savings Program (Shared Savings Program).

This fact sheet describes the proposals addressing the proposals for what ACOs are, how they can be created, and other general topics.  CMS has posted separate fact sheets on its web site to address in greater detail specific aspects of the proposed rule, such as the quality measures and performance scoring.

There will be a 60 day public comment period on this proposed rule. CMS encourages all interested members of the public, including providers, suppliers, and Medicare beneficiaries to submit comments so that CMS can consider them as it develops final regulations on the program.

Background:

Section 3022 of the Affordable Care Act, added a new section 1899 to the Social Security Act (the Act) that requires the Secretary to establish the Shared Savings Program by January 1, 2012.  This program is intended to encourage providers of services and suppliers (e.g., physicians, hospitals and others involved in patient care) to create a new type of health care entity, which the statute calls an “Accountable Care Organization (ACO)” that agrees to be held accountable for improving the health and experience of care for individuals and improving the health of populations while reducing the rate of growth in health care spending.  Studies have shown that better care often costs less, because coordinated care helps to ensure that the patient receives the right care at the right time, with the goal of avoiding unnecessary duplication of services and preventing medical errors.

ACOs and the Medicare Beneficiary:

An ACO provides an opportunity for Medicare beneficiaries to receive high quality evidence-based health care that eliminates waste and reduces excessive costs through improved care delivery.   However, there would be significant differences between ACOs, as described in the proposed rule and the private managed care plans offered under the Medicare Advantage program.  Beneficiaries would not enroll in a specific ACO.  Instead the proposed rule calls for Medicare to take a retrospective look at the beneficiary’s use of services to determine whether a particular ACO should be credited with improving care and reducing expenditures.  This means that an ACO would have an incentive to improve the quality of care for all patients seen by its member providers and suppliers.

The proposed rule would require providers participating in an ACO to notify the beneficiary that they are participating in an ACO, and that the provider will be eligible for additional Medicare payments for improving the quality of care the beneficiary receives while reducing overall costs or may be financially responsible to Medicare for failing to provide efficient, cost-effective care.  The beneficiary may then choose to receive services from the provider or seek care from another provider that is not part of the ACO.

The proposed rule would also require each provider in an ACO to notify the beneficiary that the beneficiary’s claims data may be shared with the ACO. This data sharing is intended to make it easier to coordinate the beneficiary’s care; however, the provider may not require a beneficiary to obtain services from another provider or supplier in the same ACO.  The provider must give the beneficiary the opportunity to opt-out of those data sharing arrangements.  For Medicare beneficiaries who choose not to opt-out of the data sharing arrangements, the proposed rule would limit data sharing to the purposes of the Shared Savings Program and would require compliance with applicable   privacy rules and regulations, including the provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).

Proposed eligibility requirements for an ACO:

Under the proposed rule, an ACO refers to a group of providers and suppliers of services (e.g., hospitals, physicians, and others involved in patient care) that will work together to coordinate care for the Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries they serve. The goal of an ACO is to deliver seamless, high quality care for Medicare beneficiaries, instead of the fragmented care that has so often been part of fee-for-service health care.  The ACO would be a patient-centered organization where the patient and providers are true partners in care decisions.

The Affordable Care Act specifies that an ACO may include the following types of groups of providers and suppliers of Medicare-covered services:

  • ACO professionals (i.e., physicians and hospitals meeting the statutory definition) in group practice arrangements,
  • Networks of individual practices of ACO professionals,
  • Partnerships or joint ventures arrangements between hospitals and ACO professionals, or
  • Hospitals employing ACO professionals.
  • Other Medicare providers and suppliers as determined by the Secretary

In the proposed rule, the Secretary has used her discretion to add certain critical access hospitals as eligible to participate in the Shared Savings Program.

The statute also requires each ACO to establish a governing body representing ACO providers of services and suppliers and Medicare beneficiaries. The proposed rule would make each ACO responsible for routine self-assessment, monitoring and reporting of the care it delivers.

To participate in the Shared Savings Program, the proposed rule would require an ACO to complete an application providing the information requested by CMS, including how the ACO plans to deliver high quality care at lower costs for the beneficiaries it serves.  As proposed, the ACO must agree to accept responsibility for at least 5,000 beneficiaries.  If the application is approved, the ACO must sign an agreement with CMS to participate in the Shared Savings Program for a period of three years.   An ACO will not be automatically accepted into the Shared Savings Program.

The proposed rule outlines a monitoring plan that includes analyzing claims and specific financial and quality data as well as the quarterly and annual aggregated reports, performing site visits, and performing beneficiary surveys.

Under the proposed rule, there are a number of circumstances under which CMS may terminate the agreement with an ACO, including avoidance of at risk beneficiaries and failure to meet the quality performance standards.

Tying payment to improved care at lower cost:

Under the proposed rule, Medicare would continue to pay individual providers and suppliers for specific items and services as it currently does under the fee-for-service payment systems.  The proposed rule would require CMS to develop a benchmark for savings to be achieved by each ACO if the ACO is to receive shared savings, or be held liable for losses.  Additionally, an ACO would be accountable for meeting or exceeding the quality performance standards to be eligible to receive any shared savings.

The proposed rule would establish quality performance measures and a methodology for linking quality and financial performance that will set a high bar on delivering coordinated and patient-centered care by ACOs, and emphasize continuous improvement around the three-part aim of better care for individuals, better health for populations, and lower growth in expenditures.  The proposed rule would require the ACO to have in place procedures and processes to promote evidence-based medicine and beneficiary engagement in their care.  The proposed rule would require ACOs to report quality measures to CMS and give timely feedback to providers.  CMS expects that ACOs will invest continually in the workforce and in team-based care. To assure program transparency, the proposed rule would require ACOs to publicly report certain aspects of their performance and operations.

Under the proposed rule, an ACO that meets the program’s quality performance standards would be eligible to receive a share of the savings it generates below a specific expenditure benchmark that would be set by CMS for each ACO. The proposed rule would also hold ACOs accountable for downside risk by requiring ACOs to repay Medicare for a portion of losses (expenditures above its benchmark). To provide an entry point for organizations with varied levels of experience with and willingness to take on risk, the proposed rule would allow an ACO to choose one of two program tracks.  The first track would allow an ACO to operate on a shared savings only track for the first two years, but would then require the ACO to assume the risk for shared losses in the third year.  The second track would allow ACOs to share in savings and risk liability for losses beginning in their first performance year, in return for a higher share of any savings it generates.

The Shared Savings Program NPRM will appear in the April 7, 2011 issue of the Federal Register.  CMS will accept comments on the proposed rule until June 6, 2011, and will respond to them in a final rule to be issued later this year.  The Shared Savings Program will begin operating on January 1, 2012.

Please Note: Once the regulation is published on (April 7, 2011) the preceding link will be deactivated and the published version of the regulation will be available on the National Archives website at

http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/news.html.

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IMPROVING QUALITY OF CARE FOR MEDICARE PATIENTS: ACCOUNTABLE CARE ORGANIZATIONS

On March 31, 2011, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), proposed new rules under the Affordable Care Act to help doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers better coordinate care for Medicare patients through Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs).  ACOs create incentives for health care providers to work together to treat an individual patient across care settings – including doctor’s offices, hospitals, and long-term care facilities.  The Medicare Shared Savings Program will reward ACOs that lower growth in health care costs while meeting performance standards on quality of care and putting patients first.  Patient and provider participation in an ACO is purely voluntary.

This fact sheet describes the proposals to ensure that ACOs provide high quality care, including proposed quality measures, and a proposed method for scoring the performance of the ACO for purposes of the Shared Savings Program. There will be a 60 day public comment period on this proposed rule. CMS encourages all interested members of the public, including providers, suppliers, and Medicare beneficiaries to submit comments so that CMS can consider them as it develops final regulations on the program.

Background:

The Medicare Shared Savings Program, which is to be implemented on January 1, 2012, is intended to encourage providers of services and suppliers (e.g., physicians, hospitals and others involved in patient care) to coordinate patient care and improve communications with each other to get each beneficiary the right care at the right time, and see that the care is provided right the first time.  To accomplish this, the Act allows providers to create ACOs that will be held accountable for improving the health and experience of care for individuals, improving the health  of populations, and reducing the rate of growth in health care spending.  Studies show that better care often costs less, because coordinated care helps avoid unnecessary duplication of services and preventing medical errors.

Proposals For Assessing Quality Included in the ACO Proposed Rule:

Proposed Quality Measures:  For 2012, CMS proposes to use a number of quality measures to establish the quality performance standard ACOs must meet in order to share in savings, provided they also meet the program’s cost savings requirement. These 65 measures span five quality domains: Patient Experience of Care, Care Coordination, Patient Safety, Preventive Health, and At-Risk Population/Frail Elderly Health.   The list of proposed measures is included in the appendix to this fact sheet.

CMS considered a broad array of process and outcome measures would help in assessing an ACO’s success in delivering high-quality health care at both the individual and population levels.  Several of the proposed quality measures align with those used in other CMS quality programs, such as the Physician Quality Reporting System, the Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program, and the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting Program. CMS also sought to align the proposed ACO quality measures with the National Quality Strategy and other Department of Health and Human Services priorities.  CMS proposes that the measures would be reported to CMS through a combination of claims submission, data collection using a tool designed for clinical quality measure reporting, and surveys.

CMS is proposing to define the first quality performance period as beginning January 1, 2012 and ending December 31, 2012.

Proposed Quality Performance Scoring:

As required by the Affordable Care Act, before an ACO can share in any savings created, it must demonstrate that it is delivering high quality care.  Thus, a calculation of the quality performance standard will indicate whether an ACO has met the quality performance goals that would allow it to be considered eligible for shared savings.  The proposed method for scoring the measures and determining the performance level that must be achieved to share in savings under the Shared Savings Program is described in the proposed rule.

CMS proposes that the performance on each measure will be scored on a linear points scale and roll up into 5 scores for each of the 5 domains. The percentage of points earned for each domain will be aggregated using an equal weighting method to arrive at a single percentage that will be applied to the maximum sharing rate for which the ACO is eligible.
For the first year of the Shared Savings Program, CMS proposes to set the quality performance standard at the reporting level. This means that during the first performance period, ACOs will be required to report the quality measures completely and accurately in order to share in savings. However, CMS proposes to still score quality in the first year for informational purposes and to help define the benchmarks for future program years. CMS proposes to set the quality performance standard at a higher level in subsequent years.

Proposed Incorporation of the Physician Quality Reporting System into the Shared Savings Program:

The Affordable Care Act allows CMS to incorporate the Physician Quality Reporting System reporting requirements and incentive payments into the Shared Savings Program. ACO participant providers/suppliers who are also Physician Quality Reporting System eligible professionals may earn the Physician Quality Reporting System incentive as a group practice under the Shared Savings Program, by meeting its quality performance standard

The Shared Savings Program NPRM will appear in the April 7, 2011 issue of the Federal Register.  CMS will accept comments on the proposed rule until June 6, 2011 and will respond to them in a final rule to be issued later this year.  The Shared Savings Program will begin operating on January 1, 2012.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

Privatize Medicare – On the Agenda in Congress

The House Republicans are putting forward a plan, drafted by Representative Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, to cut federal spending by $4 trillion over the next decade.

Central to that plan is a proposal to end traditional Medicare.  It would turn Medicare for those currently under 55 into a “premium support”  plan where beneficiaries would choose a private insurer and the government would provide vouchers to pay the premiums, about $15,000 a year, with bigger higher support for those who are poorer or sicker.

Writing on the New York Times “Room for Debate” blog, Princeton professor  Paul Starr says: “Privatizing Medicare would enable the federal government to wash its hands of all the vexations of health-care cost containment and leave the elderly to deal with those vexations on their own.”

The competing opinion is offered by James Capretta, a former associate director of the US Office of Management and Budget who sees vouchers as a positive step toward giving beneficiaries  “more control” over what they get:  “The key is that the government’s contribution is set independently of the choice made by any one beneficiary. If Medicare participants choose a somewhat more expensive option, they will pay higher premiums. If they choose less expensive options, perhaps through a more efficient delivery system, they will pay less.”

Is the public or the Congress ready for such a radical step? Would it hold down costs?  Or move Medicare from ” one size fits all” to a system of “haves” and “have nots,”  in which some can only afford a less generous plan?

This is a discussion we all – as providers and citizens – have a stake in.

Guest Post: Nicole K.

Hello everyone,

Today the Home Care Alliance of Massachusetts has graciously allowed me to guest blog on some very important regulatory issues facing home care. I am a home care nurse working in quality and compliance for one the largest home care agencies in the state. Currently, I’m a student at the Yale School of Nursing in their Nursing, Management, Policy, and Leadership program. I am completing an internship here at the Alliance and I plan to end it with a trip to the NAHC “March on Washington” conference this week.

This is a very exciting and challenging time for the industry. Home care is viewed by many as a way to safely and effectively care for people, in a financially sound way. I want to make it THE way for patient-centered care.

As the state and nation look towards care redesign in health care, home care should be at the head of the table for this conversation. Yet at the same time, proposed and enacted federal regulation will do extreme and permanent damage to home care. Currently, the certified home care industry is frantically preparing for the implementation of the Face-to-Face rule that takes effect April 1st. As Bill Dombi from NAHC stated, ” this is the most important Medicare change affecting home care in the last 20 years.”

On a positive note, one of our New England legislators, Senator Susan Collins, is actively working to propel forward a bill that would create greater access to home care for our sickest patients. These are the patients that can’t easily visit a physician’s office due to serious and chronic medical conditions. Senator Collins’ Home Health Care Planning Improvement Act of 2011 (S.227) would allow nurse practitioners and physicians assistants, among others, to order home care. While in Washington, I plan on speaking to any legislator who will listen to me about the damaging impact of the Face-to-Face regulation as well as the importance of passing Senator Collins’ bill. I have also lobbied remotely via telephone and using HCA-prepared emails and you can too. It’s quick and easy and makes you feel good after it’s completed.

Now is the time for all of us who work in home care or have loved ones who use home care to lobby our elected representatives to advocate for the preservation of home care.

Thank You!

Nicole K.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

Lobbying Congress and/or Lobbying CMS?

Next week, Home Care Alliance members will be in Washington DC to make sure that our elected federal officials understand the role of home care in the health care delivery system and the strain on services being imposed by new federal rules, such as the face to face requirement.  We will also be seeking their help in carrying our message to those unelected federal officials who run the Medicare program for the Congress and the American people: the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. With both enormous responsibility and authority, this federal agency can hugely influence who gets and who provides health care.

In advance of our meetings, the Home Care Alliance sent a letter to United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sibelius asking that she use her recently granted authority to at least temporary impose a “cooling off” period for new home health agencies in our states.   Included in the letter was the following:

  • ” CMS has sufficient data to indicate that rapid increases in the number of home health
    agencies has led to increases in utilization and spending beyond that which would be
    indicated by payment changes, growth in enrollees, or policy actions. The National
    Association for Home Care and Hospice collected data indicating that from 2001-2006,
    Medicare spending grew 2.5 times more in states where the number of home health
    agencies (HHA’s) increased as compared to states where the number of providers
    remained the same or decreased.
  • The proposed rules suggest that determining factors for moratoria include a trend of
    growth that is disproportionate relative to the number of beneficiaries or a rapid uptick
    in enrollment applications. The recent situation in Massachusetts satisfies both of those
    requirements. After virtually no growth between 2001 and 2006, our state has seen an
    increase of 27 certified agencies in the past four years – an increase of more than 20
    percent. This has occurred despite the fact that no area of the state is un-served or
    underserved.
  • This recent growth is driven by that fact that Massachusetts is one of only a few states
    that has neither state licensure nor certificate of need rules for new home health care.
    This ability to “take all comers” was further exacerbated by a CMS decision a few years
    ago to allow state Survey agencies to transfer their responsibilities for new Medicare
    home health certification to private accreditation agencies. Our experience is that these
    private surveys are less rigorous and that it has become much too easy for new agencies
    to become established without a full understanding of the complexity of Medicare
    compliance. In fact, we believe that several agencies received Medicare deemed status
    in the past five years have either been decertified or in danger of being decertified once
    the state makes an initial survey. All of this adds costs and no value to our system.”

Our agenda also includes – thanks to one of our most responsive elected officials Congressman Jim McGovern – a meeting to try to bring some reasonableness to the federal/state “TPL” fight over paying for home care.

Please continue to share your thoughts on both our current industry challenges and what you see as needed fixes.  When we are in DC, we are speaking for you.

 

 

Physician Face-to-Face Encounter Update: New Q&As

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have posted new guidance regarding the physician face-to-face requirement in order for patients to receive Medicare home health services.

Questions & Answers have been updated periodically by CMS and a new round has just been made available.

The new Q&A’s include:

Also, if you are from a home health agency and have not already done so, please comment on a national Face-to-Face Encounter Requirement Survey. Your feedback on whether the report reflects the issues your agency is facing will be instrumental in the Home Care Alliance’s advocacy and meetings with federal elected officials taking place at the end of March. You can comment on this newsfeed post or email James Fuccione at HCA.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

Patrick Administration Postpones ADH Rate Cuts, Services Still in Jeopardy

Officials in Governor Deval Patrick’s Administration announced that rate cuts that would have taken effect today (Tuesday, March 15) to Adult Day Health, Adult Foster Care, and Day Habilitation Programs would be “postponed indefinitely.”

Those rate cuts amounted to a total of $10 million for the three programs, but there is still the danger of the much larger $55 million cut to Adult Day Health Services that would eliminate the “Basic” service category. A special advocacy day is planned for March 22 at the State House and any interested agencies offering Adult Day Health services are invited to attend. More information on the event is available here.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

Physician Face-to-Face Encounter National Survey: Please Comment

The Home Care Alliance will be traveling to Washington DC later this month to advocate on many issues of concern, including the physician face-to-face encounter requirement set to be enforced starting April 1.

Please see this summary of results from a nationwide survey and let the Alliance know if your agency is in line with how other home health providers from across the country answered.

The survey was conducted by the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) and is important in helping HCA shape the message that will be delivered to our Congressional delegation and other key government officials.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

HCA Advocacy Notebook: Federal Advocacy, Adult Day Health, State Priorities

Join Us for Lobby Day in DC March 29

With all the major federal policy issues facing the home health industry right now, effective advocacy on the national level is more critical than ever.  The Home Care Alliance will be front and center with the National Association for Home Care & Hospice’s (NAHC) annual “March on Washington” at the end of the month, where federal advocacy on major issues will be the focus.

Some of those issues include:

  • The physician face-to-face encounter requirement,
  • Home health co-pays proposed by MedPAC,
  • Third Party Liability/Dual Eligible issues
  • Halting case mix “creep” adjustments and establishing better rebasing standards
  • Allowing NP’s and PA’s to sign home health plans of care

The Alliance will host a briefing for legislative staff from the Massachusetts Congressional Delegation and for Alliance members on Tuesday, March 29, at 12:00. This briefing will feature Congressman Jim McGovern, among other speakers, and is free for any Alliance members who wish to join us. Registration for the NAHC activities is not required as this is an independent event!  This is a great opportunity to discuss our priority concerns with legislators and their staff members.

Please contact James Fuccione at HCA if you are interested in attending or have any questions.

Adult Day Health Advocacy Day

HCA is cosponsoring an event to oppose a devastating cut to Adult Day Health Services.

This special advocacy day will take place on March 22 from 11:00am to 12:00pm in the Gardner Auditorium of the State House. The proposed $55 million cut in MassHealth Adult Day Health spending from its fiscal year 2012 budget would eliminate the “Basic” level of service on July 1, 2011.

According to the Massachusetts Adult Day Health Services Association (MADSA), this would eliminate services for most program members in the state. The organization estimates that out of 11,500 ADH participants, only about 500 are in the “complex” category.

No registration is required for the event, but please let the Alliance know if you plan on attending.

Legislation Update

The Home Care Alliance’s legislative priorities have received bill numbers and assignments to the committees who will hold public hearings on the issues. Most bills are headed to the Joint Committee on Public Health with one exception:  HCA’s home care omnibus bill, An Act Establishing Cost Avoidance Through Care at Home (CATCH), has been referred to the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing.

Stay tuned for when public hearings are announced by these committees so you can offer testimony and comments on these important issues.

HCA Advocacy Day A Success

The Home Care Alliance and State Senator Michael O. Moore hosted a very successful 2011 Home Health Care Advocacy Day at the State House yesterday that brought a great turnout of agencies and legislative staff to hear issues of importance, including HCA’s legislative priorities.

More than 60 attendees consisting of legislators, legislative staff, HCA members, government officials and partnering organizations heard a dynamic lineup of speakers. Senator Michael Moore offered welcoming remarks and touched on his experience on a home care visit seeing a telehealth patient with VNA Care Network in Worcester.

Dr. Matthew Shuster, Chief, Department of Ambulatory Geriatrics for Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates gave a great speech on the importance of home care from the physician perspective.

Judy Flynn from Partners Healthcare at Home presented how home care not only fits well into payment reform, but how the industry could represent a huge cost-savings to accountable care organizations based on the broad range of services that agencies provide.

Kathy Duckett, also from Partners, presented on the cost-efficiency and clinical effectiveness of telehealth. One patient she mentioned went from struggling to perform activities of daily living to planning trips to Alaska and Atlantic City (with a warm up stop at Foxwoods) thanks to the care she received through telehealth.

The Alliance’s Executive Director Patricia Kelleher rounded out the first part of the speaking program talking about An Act Relative to Home Health Aides, otherwise known as “nurse delegation,” and also kicked off the second part, which was a briefing for HCA Members only.

Dr. Jean M. McGuire, Assistant Secretary for Disability Policy and Programs for the state’s office of Health and Human Services spoke about the state’s activity on federal grants, pilot programs and other endeavors. Dr. McGuire mentioned how home health care fits in to those initiatives now and could possibly fit in for the future before taking questions from attendees.

After a short break, HCA members fanned out across the State House to meet with legislators and legislative staff to seek support for home health issues and legislation.

To see and hear some of the activity from Home Health Advocacy Day, visit our Facebook and YouTube pages. If you’re interested in becoming involved with the Alliance’s advocacy efforts, contact James Fuccione.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

CMS Posts Updated List of High Readmission Hospitals

For home health agencies interested in the Community-Based Care Transitions Program, a new list of high readmission hospitals has been posted as of March 3rd on the CMS website.

The list itself, available here, includes the highest hospitals by state, their location, and other information on discharges. Massachusetts hospitals are listed on pages 9 and 10.

As always, more information will be released as it becomes available.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.