In July, CMS announced a proposed new model of funding for home healthcare that will affect the delivery of wound care provided by home nursing. The model, included in the CY 2016 Home Health Prospective Payment System proposed rule, updates payments and requirements for home health agencies under the Medicare program. The Home Health Value-Based Purchasing model (authorized under the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare) would test whether incentives for better care can improve outcomes in the delivery of home health services.
The model would apply either a payment reduction or payment increase to current Medicare-certified home health agency payments, depending on quality performance, within nine randomly-selected states. Payment adjustments begin at 5% and increase to 8% in later years. I’m trying to figure out exactly what quality measures they are going to report and how they are going to report them without electronic medical records, but it’s another lesson that “pay for performance” is going to affect everyone.
For more information, visit: https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2015-16790.pdf
Dr. Fife is a world renowned wound care physician dedicated to improving patient outcomes through quality driven care. Please visit my blog at CarolineFifeMD.com and my Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/carolinefifemd/videos
The opinions, comments, and content expressed or implied in my statements are solely my own and do not necessarily reflect the position or views of Intellicure or any of the boards on which I serve.
