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| May 29, 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 This Week at CT Healthcare At Home
Federal Legislative UpdateThe Connecticut Association for Healthcare at Home and its members hosted a rally Thursday May 22nd urging state leadership to take immediate action to protect and stabilize the state’s home and community-based care system. This includes a 10% Medicaid rate increase for home care providers in FY25 and the creation of a multi-year plan for annual Medicaid rate increases to ensure workforce retention and access to care. Among the legislators coming out in support of the home care providers' urgent request for much-needed funding were Co-Chairs of Human Services (Senator Lesser and Representative Gilchrest), Aging Committee leadership (Representatives Garibay and Bolinsky) and home health nurse Representative Rebecca Martinez. Connecticut’s Medicaid rates for home care services have remained virtually unchanged for nearly 20 years. Without swift intervention, access to essential care at home will diminish, exacerbating workforce shortages and driving up state healthcare costs through preventable hospitalizations and long-term care admissions. This is a pivotal moment where economic, policy, and moral arguments align. Providers, legislators, and stakeholders are coming together to urge strategic investment in Care at Home before the cost of inaction becomes irreversible.
Source: CT News Junkie, May 23, 2025
Connecticut lawmakers, home care providers, and healthcare workers gathered Thursday in the Capitol’s Hall of Flags to raise concerns about recent federal legislation that includes deep cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, and other safety net programs.
The participants at the event, hosted by the Connecticut Association for Healthcare at Home, included legislators and providers calling for immediate state-level action in response to potential federal shortfalls.
News UpdateSource: Home Health Care News, May 22, 2025
The House of Representatives passed a budget bill on Tuesday that, if passed, would create a challenging rate environment and additional administrative burden, among other dangers, for home-based care providers.
The bill includes an estimated $698 billion budget cut to federal Medicaid subsidies over a decade and an estimated $45 billion cut to Medicare spending in 2026, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The Senate has not yet approved the budget bill, but if it passes in its current form, it would have a “devastating impact” on home-based care providers and their patients, according to industry advocates.
CMS Newsroom; Press Release; 5/21/25
Agency Will Begin Auditing All Eligible Medicare Advantage Contracts Each Payment Year and Add Resources to Expedite Completion of 2018 to 2024 Audits
Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a significant expansion of its auditing efforts for Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. Beginning immediately, CMS will audit all eligible MA contracts for each payment year in all newly initiated audits and invest additional resources to expedite the completion of audits for payment years 2018 through 2024.
Source: The Alliance, May 23, 2025
The May 2025 quarterly refresh for the Hospice Quality Reporting Program is now available on the Compare tool on Medicare.gov.
In this refresh, HIS measure scores are based on HIS data submitted by hospices from Quarter 3, 2023 through Quarter 2, 2024. CAHPS measure scores are based on CAHPS data submitted from Quarter 3, 2022 through Quarter 2, 2024. CAHPS Star Ratings are calculated based on data from Quarter 2, 2022 through Quarter 1, 2024. The claims-based measures reflect claims data collected from Quarter 1, 2022 through Quarter 4, 2023.
For additional information, please see the FY2025 Hospice Wage Index Final Rule.
Source: K&K Healthcare Solutions
Clinicians often face challenges in ensuring defensible documentation that supports homebound status, particularly during auditing activities. The reliance on Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems has become a common practice to meet the requirements for payment of services under the Medicare Part A Home Health benefit. However, merely using regulatory language, such as “considerable and taxing effort,” is insufficient to demonstrate that homebound status exists. This phrase is frequently cited when therapy services are provided yet does not adequately capture the specific circumstances of each patient.
Source: Becker's Clinical Leadership; by Mariah Taylor; 5/14/25
In 2025, the nursing workforce has stabilized compared to prepandemic numbers and is expected to grow. However, there are still several nursing challenges systems are facing. Here are 14 trends to know about the nursing workforce in 2025:
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Home Health CAHPS: Practical Improvement Best Practices Webinar Series
