Industry Note:
Medicare Funds Projects That Use Home Care Strengths
Published on Thu May 10, 2012
Educating patients, implementing telehealth figure in Innovation awards. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' new Health Care Innovation awards may point the way to new opportunities for home care providers. Many of the 26 awards CMS has announced so far focus on keeping patients out of the hospital and furnishing care in the home and community through education and telehealth. For example: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center of Boston is receiving an award to improve care and reduce hospital readmissions for beneficiaries discharged with conditions such as congestive heart failure, acute myocardial infarctions, and pneumonia. The initiative will use "care transition specialists" who help with medical care post-discharge. The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., is receiving an award to improve care for about 300 patients on peritoneal dialysis. The project will have health care workers provide clinical support and health monitoring via the web to home dialysis patients. [...]