Home Health & Hospice Week

States have a long way to go to comply with the Supreme Court's 1999 Olmstead v L.C. decision that requires Medicaid programs to cover services in the community rather than institutions where possible. So says a new report from the National Council on Disability. Changes to laws, regulations and funding may be needed before states will completely implement Olmstead's mandates for community-based care, the report says. The NCD recommends that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services furnish more explicit guidance on implementing Olmstead and use its waiver program to encourage Olmstead compliance. The report is at www.ncd.gov/whats new.html. Virginia and South Dakota scored well with the HHS Office of Inspector General over Medicaid drug rebates, but the OIG found Washington state and Hawaii lacking. Washington state received a harsh report card, with the OIG bringing its policies, procedures and internal controls for drug rebate transactions to task (A-10-03-00007). The OIG criticized Hawaii for its drug rebate collections procedures (A-04-03-06013). The Department of Health and Human Services is awarding more than $12 million in grants to develop innovative approaches to provide care for people with Alzheimer's disease and to support their family caregivers. The money will support seven new demonstration programs in Connecticut, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nebraska, Puerto Rico and Utah. The awards also will fund the continuation of projects in 32 other states. More details on the grants are at www.hhs.gov/news/press/2003pres/20030813a.html. Statistics gurus may want to check out a new document from CMS' OASIS contractor. The report details the risk adjustment procedures used for home health agency outcome reports from April 2003 onward. "Documentation of Prediction Models Used for Risk Adjustment of Home Health Agency Outcome Reports" from the Center for Health Services Research at the University of Colorado is at www.cms.hhs.gov/oasis/riskadj1appa.pdf. The Department of Defense has proposed an expansion of home care benefits to TRICARE members in a proposed rule in the Aug. 6 Federal Register. The proposal repeals the Individual Case Management Program and changes the Program For Persons With Disabilities to the Extended Health Care Option (ECHO). Under a 2002 law, the DoD was required to develop a new home-care-focused health care program under TRICARE, says the National Association for Home Care & Hospice. "Under the new program, the number of potentially eligible individuals is expanded, a respite care benefit is added, and the home health care benefit component is improved to include coverage for comprehensive home health supplies and services not limited to part-time or intermittent care," NAHC cheers. The rule is at www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fedreg/a030806c.html. Health care financier DVI Inc. says it's filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and experts expect the situation to turn to Chapter 7 bankruptcy fairly quickly. That's bad news [...]