Home Health & Hospice Week

Home care could play a vital role in preventing unnecessary health spending. Your hard work in keeping patients from being readmitted to the hospital can benefit your patients, you, and the health care system overall. Multiple entities are launching programs to curb hospital readmissions. The value of home care in achieving reduced hospital readmission goals can improve your relationships with referral sources. For example: The New Jersey Hospital Association's Institute for Quality and Patient Safety is launching a year-long collaborative partnership to reduce heart failure-related hospital readmissions, reports the Philadelphia Business Journal. More than 50 hospitals, nursing homes, home care providers, and hospice programs are participating. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is developing a program to reward hospitals for lowering readmission rates, reports The New York Times. And the new health care reform law will punish hospitals with high readmission rates, says The Boston Globe. One contributing factor: [...]