At-Home Assessments

CVS Health and a digital diagnostic startup will produce at-home tests for vitamin D, Lyme disease, sexually transmitted infections, and thyroid function; researchers identified 42 genetic variants associated with dyslexia; FDA plans updated mammogram regulations to help women with dense breasts.

Melissa O'Connor, PhD, MBA, RN, FGSA, FAAN, endowed professor in Community and Home Health Nursing, M. Louise Fitzpatrick School of Nursing, Villanova University, and director, Gerontology Interest Group, discussed several policy needs for home health care, including improved caregiver support, updated eligibility criteria for in-home care, and reimbursement for telehealth.

Would older adults use an app to assess the safety of their homes before joint replacement surgery, and if so, what might it feature? Researchers conducted a feasibility study to find out more.

Telemedicine may be the future of health care for American Indians and Alaskan Natives who live in tribal communities and remote areas.

This new series of cases suggests that technology can help nurses remotely identify relevant health events that could be indicative of exacerbations or changes in their condition.

Danielle Carnival, PhD, addressed the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Policy Summit on Friday.

Consumers want telehealth and telehealth can help achieve organizational goals of avoiding unplanned care, closing care gaps, and achieving care targets.

FAIR Health is launching a new website this week aimed at informing older adults and their caregivers about treatment options, including tools related to cost, quality, and shared decision-making.

Given the severe unmet needs of the most vulnerable members of our communities, geographic expansion and rigorous evaluations of comparable, highly personalized care management interventions are warranted.

The authors present findings of a randomized evaluation of Medicaid patients at an academic medical center, which found that intensive care management was associated with reduced total medical expense.

CVS announces its plan to buy Signify Health for $8 billion; government budgets and low reimbursement could limit the ability for new moms to stay on Medicaid for a year after childbirth; the long-lasting symptoms of COVID-19 could be keeping millions of people out of the workforce.

The multidisciplinary home care program aims to improve health outcomes and functioning while reducing health care use and preventing long-term nursing home placement.

A recent review suggests point-of-care ultrasound can help home hospital care providers assess, diagnose, and monitor a range of conditions with relatively little additional training.

Medication-at-home pharmacy is an innovative method of medication management that is vital to the success of the health care system.

While past studies have indicated that home-based and center-based cardiac rehabilitation results in similar outcomes for lower-risk patients, information about patients who are more medically complicated and racially and ethnically diverse is unknown.

Medicaid’s Money Follows the Person (MFP) demonstration program, which began in 2008, has helped states transition more than 107,000 people to community settings rather than living in institutional facilities.

The pandemic has changed how care has delivered, but what professionals new to health care know about strategies used to connect with patients in a virtual setting, or the quality of the instruction they receive, is not known.

Most participants were able to complete the assessments at home, and their scores correlated well with in-clinic assessments.

When the pandemic public health emergency eventually ends, so will the various waivers and regulatory flexibilities enacted by HHS during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the ability to provide acute hospital care at home, unless Congress acts.

Occupational therapists and caregivers note that while videoconferencing to conduct home assessments before hospital discharge have significant advantages, the current disadvantages limit the clinical feasibility of virtual home visits.

This UK study looked at the use of telehealth to deliver virtual home assessments for occupational therapy services; the authors also created guidelines to support additional work in this area.

Comprehensive geriatric assessments are designed to keep frail older adults healthy and out of hospitals and nursing homes; a recent article described the the components that make up an assessment and how they can apply to a physiotherapy evaluation.

Polypharmacy and medication adherence are common problems among the Medicare patient population, and this article addresses how Medicare Advantage plans can address these challenges and improve patient outcomes.

Accountable care organizations (ACOs) deliver a diverse array of home-based services, but many of the services are not reimbursed. ACOs may not expand these programs without strong evidence of cost savings.

Panelists touted the ability to pay for items and repairs to keep Medicare beneficiaries healthier at home, avoiding potentially costly hospitalizations and complications.

The new research is aimed at a patient group often left out of research studies.

Results suggest that this scalable model of Hospital at Home is safe, feasible, highly satisfactory, and may be associated with substantial reductions in hospital readmissions.