Medicare Chronic Disease Management Vital to Cut Healthcare Costs

 Effective chronic disease management is imperative in a healthcare industry in which costs are only going up. However, without adequate patient engagement and care coordination strategies, efforts to mitigate chronic care issues will not be successful, leaving the market to handle ever-rising healthcare costs.

Medicare Allows More Benefits for Chronically Ill,   Aiming to Improve Care for Millions

The changes — reflected in a new law and in official guidance from the Department of Health and Human Services — tackle a vexing and costly problem in American health care: how to deal with long-term illnesses that can build on one another, and the social factors outside the reach of traditional medicine that can contribute to them, like nutrition, transportation and housing.

Return of the House Call

Healthcare startups have cropped up to provide in-home medical services, including mobile urgent care and doctor appointments. But they’re not the only ones trying house calls. Established providers such as Johns Hopkins are getting into the act and Medicare is testing a home-based primary care model for high-cost chronically ill beneficiaries.

Industry Voices—Curing Alzheimer's Could Save America $8T in Coming Decades

Every 65 seconds, someone in America develops Alzheimer's, and the prognosis isn't good. The disease kills one in three patients. Between 2000 and 2015, deaths from Alzheimer's skyrocketed more than 120%. Meanwhile, deaths from other ailments, like heart disease, have dropped.

CMS Proposal Builds Remote Patient Monitoring into Home Health Reimbursement

Home health agencies may soon be able to include the costs associated with remote patient monitoring into Medicare reimbursement. Under a proposed payment rule released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Monday, home health providers would be able to include the costs of remote patient monitoring as an allowable cost in the home health agency’s cost report.