Citing a Disastrous Pandemic Response, an Expert Panel Will Call for an Overhaul of the U.S. Public Health System

A bipartisan panel of health experts will call on Tuesday for an overhaul of the American public health system that would greatly expand the role of the federal government, giving Washington the authority to set minimum health standards and coordinate a patchwork of nearly 3,000 state, local and tribal agencies.

The recommendations flow from what the panel, the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a National Public Health System, described as the inadequacies and inequities of the United States’ response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than one million Americans.

Read more @ NY Times

ATTENTION Hospices! CMS Recruiting Additional Hospices for HOPE Beta Testing

As hospices should already be aware, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and Abt Associates are currently beta testing a draft standardized hospice patient assessment instrument called Hospice Outcomes & Patient Evaluation (HOPE).  Additional hospice providers are needed to complete the testing.

Hospices must be Medicare-certified and training for this round of hospices is anticipated to occur mid-July 2022 with data collection slated to begin in August 2022 and continue through early fall 2022.

CMS is specifically seeking hospice providers with sufficient registered nurse, social worker, and chaplain staffing to conduct at least 1 – 2 joint visits per week. Hospices currently participating in the beta test may be finding this difficult amidst the workforce shortage causing CMS to recruit more hospices.

It appears that CMS is still aiming for completion of the beta testing in early fall of this year.  Should this occur, there may be time for CMS to analyze the results of the testing and formulate a proposal for use of the HOPE by all hospices in the FY2024 proposed rule.  This proposed rule would be posted in Spring 2023 for public review.

Joint visits are typical in beta testing standardized assessment instruments such as the HOPE for inter-rater reliability, but it is not expected that joint visits will be required when a HOPE tool is implemented in hospice. CMS includes the following additional information about the 1-2 joint visits per week that would occur as part of the HOPE testing:  For joint visits, two registered nurses visit one patient at the same time to complete the HOPE nurse assessment. Two social workers visit the patient at the same time to complete the HOPE social work assessment, and two chaplains visit the patient at the same time to complete the HOPE chaplain assessment. One of the two registered nurses, social workers and chaplains may attend their joint visit via video call, such as Zoom. HOPE assessments are completed at hospice admission, for symptom reassessment and at live discharge.

Recruitment will continue until CMS reaches the desired number of participants (number not specified). Those interested in participating should email [email protected] by June 30, 2022.

Support for Family Caregivers

For caregivers, the job doesn’t end at 5pm. You don’t get time off on weekends. Your around-the-clock dedication to your care partner likely means you need support to face the challenges each new day may bring. The Building Better Caregivers® (BBC) six-week online workshop, developed by Stanford University, can help you reset, recharge and discover new information so you can be the best caregiver you can be. When you join a BBC workshop, you’ll connect with a small group of caregivers just like you and support each other in reaching your goals.

“The workshop helped me see different ways to approach my caregiving responsibilities. I tried to learn to re-channel some feelings or rethink my feelings in a more positive way. And I didn’t feel guilty for taking time for me. There were helpful tools & ideas, and also, reading the feedback was helpful & positive for me. With each week it gave me another chance at becoming a better caregiver. Thank you for this workshop!”  - BBC Graduate

Click here to join a BBC workshop and you’ll learn:

• New ways to approach caregiving
• How to reduce stress and find guilt-free time for yourself
• Tools to help you manage your time and improve your relationship with your care partner

To participate in BBC, caregivers must be enrolled in one of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Caregiver Support Program offerings:

• Program of General Caregiver Support Services
• Or in the application process or enrolled in the Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers

If you are a caregiver, reach out to your Caregiver Support Team to learn more about signing up or visit BBC’s website today!

Home Health Value-Based Purchasing Model

First Five Performance Years (2016-2020) Evaluation Report - Key Takeaways: 

The Home Health Value‐Based Purchasing (HHVBP) Model provides financial incentives to home health agencies for quality improvement based on their performance relative to other agencies in their state. The first five years of the implementation of the original HHVBP Model have resulted in cumulative Medicare savings of $949.2 million, a 1.6% decline relative to the 41 non-HHVBP states, as well as improvements in quality. These impacts were observed during 2020, the third year for quality-based payment adjustments, as well as the first four years of the model.

The Two Page Overview:

• Findings-At-A-Glance (PDF)

The Report (includes an Executive Summary):

• Fifth Evaluation Report (PDF)

• Go directly to the Executive Summary (PDF)

Additional Supporting Materials:

• Appendix: Methods and Supporting Analyses (PDF)

Model Page: Home Health Value-Based Purchasing Model