CMS references HCHB's advocacy in the final rule, acknowledging its impact on the decision to reduce proposed cuts and support increased payments for home health providers in 2025.
DALLAS, Nov. 19, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Homecare Homebase (HCHB), the leading software provider for home-based care, is proud that its comments from its proposed rule comment letter were directly referenced by CMS as a factor in reducing proposed cuts, leading to an estimated 0.5% increase in home health payments next year, with HCHB's Impact Model projecting a 0.78% increase across Homecare Homebase customers.
While this year's rate adjustment brings a modest increase instead of a cut, the rise still lags behind inflation and escalating costs, which continue to put pressure on Home Health margins and challenge the financial stability of the industry. The financial pressures are likely to also heighten existing access-to-care issues and have a potential to negatively affect quality of care.
"We are proud to advocate for the home-based care industry, bringing critical issues to light and working to protect the resources needed for quality patient care," said Scott Pattillo, chief strategy officer of Homecare Homebase. "Our efforts to engage CMS on these matters are a testament to our mission to support agencies as they navigate financial challenges, ensuring they can continue to deliver essential care to patients in their homes."
This year's CMS final rule brings several impactful changes to the Home Health industry, particularly recognizing the growing access-to-care challenges. Wage index changes, with shifts ranging from -5% in the Virgin Islands to +8.8% in New Mexico, will affect how agencies across states are impacted. The final rule's main drivers include a standard payment increase of 0.94%, a comorbidity adjustment of +5.4%, and an average wage index boost of 0.82%, offset by decreases in case mix (-5.9%), functional impairment level (-3.98%) and outlier mix (-0.7%). Notably, the -1.98% permanent behavior adjustment rate decrease, reduced from a proposed -4.07%, remains a central factor affecting overall payment rates for home health providers.
HCHB will be updating its EHR platform in the coming weeks to ensure compliance with the final rule. These updates will incorporate regulatory changes into HCHB's workflows, including adjustments to LUPA thresholds, case-mix weights, functional impairment levels, comorbidity adjustment subgroups, wage index, FDL ratio, the 30-day payment rate and modifications to OASIS and Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) data elements.
Homecare Homebase will continue collaborating with CMS to clarify data points and address discrepancies, ensuring its customers are fully prepared for compliance when submitting claims data in the coming year. The HCHB Analytics 2025 Final Rule Impact Model is now available, allowing customers to assess the specific effects of the rule on their organizations.
To learn more about what's new at Homecare Homebase, visit hchb.com.
About Homecare Homebase, LLC
Founded by industry veterans in 1999, Homecare HomebaseSM (HCHB) is a Dallas-based software leader empowering exceptional home-based care through hosted, cloud-based technology solutions and administrative services. HCHB's customized mobile solutions enable real-time, wireless data exchange and communication between field clinicians, physicians and office staff for better care, more accurate reporting and improved revenue cycle management. HCHB's products and services streamline operations, simplify compliance and boost clinical and financial outcomes for home-based care agencies. Each year, over 200,000 HCHB users serve approximately 800,000 patients daily, resulting in over one hundred million visits. The company is part of the Hearst Health network. For more information, visit http://www.hchb.com or call us toll-free at 1-866-535-HCHB (4242).
About Hearst Health
The mission of Hearst Health is to help guide the most important care moments by delivering vital information into the hands of everyone who touches a person's health journey. Care guidance from Hearst Health reaches the majority of people in the U.S. The Hearst Health network includes FDB (First Databank), Zynx Health, MCG, Homecare Homebase, MHK and QGenda. Hearst also holds a minority interest in the precision medicine and oncology analytics company Aster Insights. Follow Hearst Health on X @HearstHealth and LinkedIn @Hearst-Health.
Media Contact
Liz LeGrande, Homecare Homebase, LLC, (214) 498-9524, [email protected], https://hchb.com/
SOURCE Homecare Homebase, LLC
Share this article