Home Healthcare Looks to Step in to Care for COVID-19 Patients

The country's home healthcare providers are preparing to see a rise in demand for their services as more elderly patients and those with underlying health conditions stay home to lessen their risk of exposure to COVID-19, Steven Ross Johnson of Modern Healthcare reports. 

But, the magazine says, home health agencies see challenges in making sure providers remain healthy—both physically and financially—especially as they compete against hospitals for limited resources.

Modern Healthcare also noted: 

This week the Trump administration announced it will temporarily expand telehealth services under Medicare to cover such interactions at the same rate as in-person visits and allow doctors to provide services with their personal phones.

But stakeholders say neither the CMS changes, the $50 billion in federal disaster relief funding available through Trump's emergency declaration, nor the proposed Families First Coronavirus Response Act passed by the Senate on Wednesday allows for home healthcare providers to expand their telehealth services.

While Medicare covers the cost of home health agencies providing remote patient monitoring if it is used to, "augment the care planning process", the program does not reimburse home health providers that use telehealth services to substitute for in-person visits.

Other coronavirus headlines

• Colorado is Banking on eTlehealth to Slow Coronavirus
• CMS Moves to Delay Elective Surgeries; Supply Shortages Worsen
• South Carolina In-home Health Providers Take Precautions
• Hospice Providers Meet Challenges in Care for Terminally Ill
• Colorado State Health Department Issues Orders Restricting Visitors in Skilled Nursing, Assisted Living, and Intermediate Care Facilities
• AVAILABLE TO ALL: HHAC Covid-19 Resources