In a current market where inflation and healthcare costs continue to rise, determining where to best allocate a limited amount of money has been a challenge.
Understandably, there are no easy decisions, but consumer needs and ultimately how to make healthcare more accessible, convenient, cost-effective and better for patients must guide us.
As a result, reducing federal funding is simply not feasible or sensible in some nursing sectors. At the top of the list is home healthcare, an industry that has experienced significant growth during and after the peak of Covid-19 and continues to innovate for the benefit of patients.
Nonetheless, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently proposed A permanent 7.69% cut for home health care providers and a future “rebate” for providers in 2020 and 2021. Overall, these cuts are expected to reach $18 billion over the next 10 years, starting in 2023.
Not only do these cuts dramatically limit access to the quality home health care that America’s seniors deserve, but they also directly contradict today’s trends in home health care and consumer preferences.
In a study this year, physicians serving primarily Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) and Medicare Advantage (MA) patients, McKinsey It is estimated that by 2025, $265 billion worth of U.S. health care services for FFS and MA beneficiaries could be moved from traditional facilities to patient homes without compromising quality of care or access to opportunity.
In addition, more and more elderly people are more willing to receive care at home, so as to achieve home-based care.in late 2021 A study of temporary healthcare companies.79% of seniors over 65 say their quality of life would improve significantly if they could receive health care at home rather than in a hospital or nursing facility.
In response to this growing and anticipated demand, healthcare providers are increasingly recognizing the important role that digital health technologies can play in efficiently and cost-effectively expanding home health services for the benefit of patients.
While much of the technology is focused on the vital function of delivering care, home health providers alike are increasingly investing in “interoperable technologies” to better connect them with their acute care peers and vice versa .
This idea of interoperability creates a stronger healthcare ecosystem where patient data and health outcomes are exchanged across systems to provide patients, payers and providers a smoother care experience. For the home health industry, as well as the entire care continuum, long-awaited progress may be interrupted by reduced funding.
For patients, that can mean delays in phone calls and faxes, or waiting days (or weeks) for referral documents to be processed so they can get much-needed care sooner after being discharged or visiting a primary care physician.
For providers and payers, this data exchange enables payers to better see and measure the quantifiable value of home health providers that payers lack, helping them provide appropriate reimbursement rates based on data and facts.
In addition to more integrated systems, the technology automates management responsibilities and fosters a leaner business model for suppliers. For example, in 2020, VNS Health By adopting interoperability technology, its accounts receivable decreased by 50%, from $16 million to $8 million. They also saved $90,000 by eliminating temporary staffing services dedicated to administrative work.
All of these factors have resulted in a more connected and robust healthcare ecosystem where patients can avoid unnecessarily long and costly hospital stays and have access to convenient and timely post-acute care. Additionally, payers and providers have healthier bottom lines.
CMS’s proposed cuts stop this momentum and reverse the trend of growth and innovation, improving the quality and efficiency of home healthcare.Recent Legislative Proposals Delay production cuts until 2026 is a more reasonable approach.
Payers must be ready to respond to these changing patient preferences, as providers do. If they don’t, patients and their loved ones will have to bear the worst consequences of fragmented and expensive care.
Photo: Nuthaut Somsuk, Getty Images
