AHA Urges Congress to Remove Legal Barriers to Value-Based Payment Arrangements

Congress should adopt a single broad exception to federal fraud and abuse laws for financial relationships designed to foster collaboration, efficiencies and improvements in health care, AHA told leaders of the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committees today. Read More   

How a New Payment Stream Could Come to Senior Care

As baby boomers age over the next several decades, the demand for senior care options will increase-and there currently are limited ways for middle-income earners to pay for these services. Read More    

Results of Rehospitalization Reduction Efforts Promising, CMS Says

Early results of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' initiative to reduce hospitalizations among nursing home residents indicates a promising start to the program, CMS officials say. Read More   

Healthcare Hiring Spree Spills into 2016

The healthcare industry, bolstered by the nation's hospitals and health systems, added 36,800 jobs in January. Read More   

Medicare Beneficiaries Saved $20 Billion on Prescription Drugs Since 2010

Nearly 10.7 million Medicare beneficiaries have received discounts totaling over $20.8 billion on prescription drugs, an average of $1,945 per beneficiary, since the enactment of the Affordable Care Act. Read More    

Obama Budget Proposes $10 Million Boost for Aging Programs

Five U.S. states may soon participate in a pilot program meant to create a more streamlined approach to delivering long-term care supports and services (LTSS) across the continuum of care. Read More   

Dementia Rates Decline in Study, But Causes Remain Unclear

While a new study shows the dementia incident rate dropped on average 20% per decade since the 1970s, the actual reasons for the decline aren't fully understood. Read More   

In Palliative Care, Comfort is the Top Priority

Perhaps it's not surprising that many families know little about palliative care; it only became an approved medical specialty in 2007. Read More   

Family Caregivers May Be Sacrificing Their Own Health to Help Loved Ones

Many family caregivers in the U.S. provide unpaid medical aid and other services to loved ones at the expense of their own financial, physical and mental health, a study suggests. Read More   

Kindred Goes Big on Data with Inovalon, Avalere

In a health care environment riddled with newly introduced value-based payment models, Kindred Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE: KND), the nation's largest home health provider, is setting out to improve clinical outcomes and ensure more coordinated care through better data use and analytics. Read More

*Opinions expressed in any of the included stories or their publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Kindred Healthcare. This blog post is a compilation of news stories from other sources that have appeared during the past week.