Biden Plugs Home Care, Family Caregivers in State of the Union

McKnight's Home Care | By Liza Berger

In a State of the Union speech Thursday night that was lighter on healthcare than other domestic, and foreign, policy issues, President Biden gave a brief nod to home care.

The reference came after he mentioned proposing a minimum tax of 25% for billionaires, which he said would raise $500 billion over the next 10 years.

“Imagine what that could do for America … Imagine a future with home care and elder care so seniors and people living with disabilities can stay in their homes and family caregivers get paid what they deserve!,” he said.

A fact sheet published by the Biden administration on Thursday prior to the speech touted his accomplishments in increasing home- and community-based services. It noted that his administration delivered $37 billion to states to expand HCBS. Specifically, the funding provided a temporary 10 percentage point increase to the federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP) for certain Medicaid expenditures for HCBS. The FMAP increase expired on March 31, 2022.

The fact sheet also alluded to his support for the 80/20 provision in the proposed Medicaid Access Rule “to make sure home care workers get a bigger share of Medicaid payments for these critical services.”

And he is calling on Congress to allow older adults and those with disabilities on Medicaid home care waiting lists to remain in their homes, according to the fact sheet.

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Report: Low Medicaid Reimbursement Rates Lead to Private Duty Nursing Shortage in Colorado

Denver 7 | By Adria Iraheta 

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Low Medicaid reimbursement rates are causing nurses in Colorado to seek higher-paying jobs, leaving families in vulnerable positions, according to a new report.

Amid crunching numbers and sending emails from the kitchen, Rod Schiller keeps an eye on his 13-year-old son, Luke, on a monitor.

Luke is hooked up to several machines in the bedroom.

“He does not eat without care. He doesn't go to the bathroom, you know, without help. He’s non-ambulatory. He can't turn over in the bed without somebody helping him. He is totally dependent on a good care provider,” Schiller said.

At one point, a machine beeps.

“His shaker just finished, so I’m going to do his cough assist,” Schiller explains.

Luke got his first home nurse when he was a toddler. Since then, it’s been a revolving door of nurses.

“We've had nurses that will stay two weeks, and they'll leave. Or we've had nurses that we want to leave,” said Schiller.

It’s a problem that’s only getting worse.

A new analysis done on behalf of the Home Care and Hospice Association of Colorado shows the state has some of the lowest reimbursement rates for private care nurses

Colorado’s Medicaid RN payment rate is $7.05 below the median. For licensed practical nurses, the rate is $9.04 below the median.

The analysis shows that Colorado needs a Medicaid rate increase of 37.8% for RNs and 52.1% for LPNs to attract sufficient private duty nurses...

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CMS To Discontinue Hospice Component of Medicare Advantage (MA) Value Based Insurance Design (VBID) Model in CY 2025

NHPCO Regulatory Alert

On March 4, 2024, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the termination of the hospice component of the VBID Model, effective December 31, 2024. CMS cited feedback from providers, beneficiaries, and MA Organizations (MAOs) about their experience with VBID as the reason for discontinuing the hospice component of the model. CMS will no longer be accepting applications for the calendar year (CY) 2025 Request for Applications. This means hospice will no longer be a part of the VBID model beginning January 1, 2025. Hospice providers currently contracted with MAOs will continue with their contracts for CY 2024. CMS will issue additional guidance later this year.

This follows over five years of advocacy and engagement by NHPCO, including meetings and official filings with the CMS VBID team in February 2024, August 2022, August 2021, and Spring 2020.

CMS will continue the VBID model without the hospice component with the goal of enhancing care coordination, optimizing cost, and delivering equitable, high-quality, person-centered care to Medicare beneficiaries.

Any questions can be directed to [email protected] with ‘VBID’ in the subject line
 

Hackers Behind Change Healthcare Breach Get $22M

Becker’s Health IT | By Laura Dyrda

The cybercriminal organization responsible for hacking UnitedHealth Group's Change Healthcare has received a multimillion dollar payment in bitcoins, according to Reuters.

UnitedHealth Group said Change was hit by BlackCat ransomware group Feb. 21, forcing its systems offline. The claims processing and revenue cycle management platform is still working to restore functionality, and asked health systems to use alternative methods for claims processing while its systems are down. BlackCat claimed it stole 6 terabytes of data from Change, including medical records and Social Security numbers.

BlackCat received $22 million in bitcoins, according to a March 3 forum post. UnitedHealth Group has not addressed whether the company paid the ransom, but told Reuters it was "focused on the investigation and recovery."

BlackCat shut down its servers and ransomware sites, BleepingComputer reported March 4, after claiming the ransom was paid. BlackCat previously shut down its data leak blog March 1.
 

Critical Cybersecurity Update from FBI, HHS

NAHC

In response to active exploitation of a cybersecurity vulnerability, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released an update to the joint advisory #StopRansomware: ALPHV Blackcat to provide new indicators of compromise (IOCs) and tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) associated with the ALPHV Blackcat ransomware as a service (RaaS). ALPHV Blackcat affiliates have been observed primarily targeting the healthcare sector. Please make sure the attached message is seen and acted upon by the appropriate members of your organization, such as the IT department. We encourage those with networks to distribute this message to your networks.

For more information click here: #StopRansomware: ALPHV Blackcat

A new joint cybersecurity advisory from FBI, DHS/CISA, and HHS encourages organizations to take actions that mitigate the threat of ransomware This advisory provides updates to the BlackCat/ALPHV Ransomware Indicators of Compromise released April 19, 2022 and to the advisory released December 19, 2023.

Read the Advisory
 
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