Delta Connect Blog

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As a requirement of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) Office of Disability, Aging and Long-Term Care Policy recently released a study entitled EHR Payment Incentives for Providers Ineligible for Payment Incentives and Other Funding Study.  The long-awaited study provided a rationale for identifying provider types not eligible for electronic health record (EHR) incentive payments and identified the provider types who may participate in Medicare and Medicaid but are not eligible for the EHR incentive programs instituted under HITECH.

On June 19, thirty-three stakeholders (the Stakeholders), including the National Council on Medicaid Home Care, NAHC, National Council on Aging, National Health Law Program, National Senior Citizens Law Center, The Arc of the United States, and other provider and consumer organizations sent a letter (The Stakeholder Letter) to Melanie Bella, Director of the Medicare-Medicaid Coordination Office at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The letter calls for reforms to the dual eligible demonstrations (the Demonstrations).

Representatives of the nation’s three leading home health organizations - National Association for Home Care and Hospice (NAHC), Visiting Nurse Associations of America (VNAA), and Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare (Partnership) – recently released new analyses demonstrating the impact the proposed Home Health Prospective Payment System (HHPPS) rule issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is projected to have on the nation’s home health delivery system and 3.5 million Medicare home health beneficiaries, if finalized in its current form.

Modern Healthcare has released its twelfth annual ranking of the 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare. Among the honorees was NAHC President Val J. Halamandaris, who made the prestigious list for the fifth time since its inception. The award honors individuals in healthcare who are deemed by their peers and an expert panel to be the most influential individuals in the industry, in terms of leadership and impact.