Reimbursement changes are among the issues.
The homecare market is experiencing significant growth, with many healthcare organizations looking to add home care to their service offerings. However, the pandemic has exacerbated the industry's staffing shortage, stretching workers to their limits; which is hindering the sector's prospects for growth.
A new report by KLAS Research, Home-Based Post-Acute Care 2022, looks at the current challenges home care is facing.
KLAS Research interviewed 88 home-based care leaders, with 66% identifying staffing as a challenge. Burnout and difficult work environments were named as contributing factors.
"The increased demand for homecare services has greatly strained organizations' resources; many organizations want to expand their services but have insufficient staff to increase their patient census. Customers mention difficulty finding qualified candidates via cross-industry recruiting platforms," the report stated.
Regulatory requirements (38%) are another challenge home-based post-acute care is facing. Many interviewees stated that the new and changing regulatory requirements from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) complicate workflows and stretch already thin budgets to their limit.
"Generating required documentation (e.g. for HEDIS measures) can be complicated, and 24% of respondents cite complex documentation as a challenge. Regulations can also cause reimbursement issues," the report said.
The third challenge for home-based post-acute care is changes to reimbursement (34%). With the healthcare industry beginning to favor value-based reimbursement models, organizations must navigate complex billing requirements.
"Reimbursements are expected to become even more challenging in 2023, when CMS intends to roll out the Home Health Prospective Payment System (HH PPS) Rate Update rule," the report said.
Other challenges noted from the interviewee's responses are:
Complex documentation (24%)
Transitions of care (13%)
Interoperability of patient records (11%)
Revenue cycle (9%)
COVID-19 (8%)
Patient experience (8%)
Staff training (8%)
Jasmyne Ray is the revenue cycle editor at HealthLeaders.