Frontline Honors Award Winner: Kelley Blackburn, Regional Clinical Director, Innovive Health
Kelley Blackburn, Regional Clinical Director at Innovive Health, has been named to the Frontline Honors Awards Class of 2025. Her leadership helped launch the first behavioral‑health home‑care program in Iowa, a service previously unavailable in the state. Blackburn cites a case where a patient with uncontrolled diabetes and bipolar disorder saw hospitalizations drop from over 20 admissions to zero after receiving consistent home nursing. The award underscores Innovive’s nurse‑owned model and its growing impact on patient outcomes and workforce culture.
Bayada Nonprofit Executive Director On The At-Home Care Medicaid Squeeze, Industry Consolidation
Sue Chapman Moss, Bayada’s senior vice president of payer strategy and new executive director of Hearts for Home Care, warned that state Medicaid reimbursement is tightening after the One Big Beautiful Bill, pressuring home‑based providers with lower rates and reduced...
Aveanna’s $175.5M Acquisition Strengthens Company’s In-Home Pediatric Care Play
Aveanna Healthcare announced a $175.5 million acquisition of Family First Homecare, adding 27 locations across six states and completing its Florida coverage. The deal, funded by cash and short‑term credit, is slated to close in Q2 2026 and will be...
CMS Fraud Crackdown Raises ‘Broad Brush’ Concerns For At-Home Care Sector
CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz is spearheading an aggressive fraud crackdown in the home‑based care sector, mirroring recent actions in the durable medical equipment (DME) market. Industry leaders, including the National Alliance for Care at Home, back the effort but...
Caring Senior Service’s CEO Is Tackling Caregiver Shortages, Scaling Growth With AI
CEO Jeff Salter of Caring Senior Service is leveraging AI and new software tools to address caregiver shortages and accelerate growth in 2026. The franchisor, operating over 50 locations in 21 states, is focusing on community referral pipelines, a mindset...
MedArrive Acquires Inbound Health Assets; Carefam Raises $14.5M
MedArrive has purchased key assets from the defunct Inbound Health, adding AI‑driven patient navigation tools and expanding its hospital‑at‑home market reach, while appointing veteran health‑tech executive Ophir Lotan as CEO. In parallel, AI‑powered staffing platform Carefam emerged from stealth with...
Alliance CEO Criticizes MedPAC’s ‘Misguided’ 7% Home Health Payment Cut Recommendation
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) has recommended a 7% reduction in the Medicare fee‑for‑service home health payment rate for 2027, projecting $750 million in savings in the first year and up to five‑year cumulative cuts. The National Alliance for Care...
Bayada Eyes Expansion For Its Home Intensive Care Unit Program
Bayada Home Health Care has launched a value‑based Home Intensive Care Unit (HICU) program delivering in‑home neonatal and pediatric intensive care. A pilot moving 80 children home cut rehospitalizations, achieved 97.6% reliability and saved over $250,000 per patient. The service,...
Lawmakers Introduce Bill To Reject Companionship Exemption
Congress introduced the Fair Wages for Home Care Workers Act, aiming to repeal the longstanding companionship exemption that excludes many home care workers from minimum wage and overtime protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The bill, sponsored by Rep....
HouseWorks Acquires A Caring Experience
HouseWorks Holdings announced the acquisition of Rhode Island‑based home‑care provider A Caring Experience, marking its first entry into the state and the twelfth deal since 2022. The purchase expands HouseWorks’ New England footprint, adding a well‑established caregiver‑training school to its...
What Hospital Systems Want From Home Health Providers
Ascension, a 97,000‑employee health system, is demanding faster, more reliable home‑health services from partner agencies. The system requires same‑day or next‑day visits, referral acceptance within minutes, and acceptance rates above 85%, far higher than the industry average. To improve coordination,...
Frontline Honors Award Winner: Quintessa Haile, Home Care Aide, Help at Home
Quintessa Haile, a home care aide at Help at Home, was named a 2025 Frontline Honors Award winner by Home Health Care News. In a recent interview she explained that personal caregiving for her mother sparked her commitment to the...
2026 Future Leaders Awards: Early Bird Deadline Approaching
The 2026 Future Leaders Awards are opening their early‑bird entry window, offering a $100 discount for nominations submitted by March 13, 2026. The program highlights high‑performing employees under 40 who are reshaping home health and related care sectors. Winners receive dual press...
New Alliance CEO Sheets Puts Spotlight On Home Health Fraud, Waste And Abuse
Jennifer Sheets, the new CEO of the National Alliance for Care at Home, is making home‑health program integrity her top priority after CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz highlighted fraud, waste and abuse in the sector. She has urged CMS to form...
‘AI, AI And AI’: CommonSpirit Health at Home CEO On The Forces Shaping 2026
CommonSpirit Health at Home is charting a 2026 roadmap that moves care upstream by using EHR‑based eligibility triggers to engage patients earlier in hospice and home‑health pathways. The provider plans a measured AI rollout focused on predictive analytics and operational...
60% Of Older Adults Prefer At-Home Care If Their Needs Increase
A Pew Research survey of 2,582 U.S. adults aged 65 and older finds that 60% would rather stay at home with a caregiver if they can no longer live independently, while only 18% prefer moving to an assisted‑living community. Preference...
Frontline Honors Award Winner: Vanessa Valerio, RN, CMC, CHCA, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Care Indeed
Vanessa Valerio, RN, CMC, CHCA, Vice President and COO of Care Indeed, has been named to the Frontline Honors Awards Class of 2025 by Home Health Care News. The award recognizes frontline workers who deliver exceptional experiences, advocate for the...
Home Care Giant Dovida Acquires A Place At Home, Enters US Market
Dovida, the international home‑care provider operating in six markets, has entered the United States by acquiring Omaha‑based A Place At Home. The deal keeps the A Place At Home brand and its co‑founders in place while adding 57 care units...
U.S. News & World Report Debuts Best Home Health Agency Rankings
U.S. News & World Report unveiled its inaugural Best Home Health Agency rankings, assessing more than 12,000 Medicare‑certified providers. The analysis identified over 1,300 agencies that exceeded expectations and another 5,280 that met standard performance levels. Ratings are built on...
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[UPDATED] Kinderhook Industries To Acquire Enhabit For $1.1B
Kinderhook Industries agreed to acquire home‑health and hospice provider Enhabit Inc. for approximately $1.1 billion in an all‑cash transaction, taking the company private. Shareholders will receive $13.80 per share, a 24.4% premium to the last closing price and 33.8% above the...
Cityblock Health Makes The Home ‘Even More Central,’ Expands Long-Term Services, Supports
Cityblock Health announced the rollout of its long‑term services and supports (LTSS) program across more than ten states, extending the model that began in Massachusetts and is already active in New York, North Carolina and Indiana. The offering blends regular...
How Pennant, LiveWell, Grow With A Density-First Mindset
Home‑based care providers are shifting from a broad geographic footprint to an operational‑density model, making clustered agencies the cornerstone of growth. LiveWell Partners emphasizes expanding density within states it already serves, exemplified by its recent acquisition of Empower Home Health...
TheKey’s CEO Plots Home Health Expansion
TheKey, a Delray, Florida‑based home‑care provider, is moving to add private‑pay nursing services in four new states, aiming for a total of six states by the end of 2026. The company is finalizing licensure for the southern half of California...
Enhabit, Encompass Health Collect $43.1M From VitalCaring Case
Encompass Health and its spin‑off Enhabit have secured a $43.1 million award in attorneys’ fees and mitigation damages from VitalCaring. A Delaware federal judge ordered that 43% of VitalCaring’s future profits and any exit proceeds be placed in trust and split...
Landers Exits As Alliance CEO, Sheets Takes Helm
Dr. Steve Landers stepped down as CEO of the National Alliance for Care at Home, ending his 17‑month tenure that began in September 2024. He will remain on the board to aid the transition, which takes effect on Feb. 9. Jennifer...
WTWH Healthcare Is Now Accepting Nominations For the 2026 Memory Care Innovation Awards
WTWH Healthcare has opened nominations for its 2026 Memory Care Innovation Awards, honoring individuals and organizations that advance cognitive care across home health, hospice, senior living, and related sectors. Eligible nominees must have at least seven years of experience and...
Avoiding ‘Stacking’ Consequences: Top Home-Based Care Employment Law Considerations
Home‑based care providers are confronting a fragmented employment‑law landscape, prompting a Polsinelli webinar that outlines urgent compliance steps. Within the next three to six months firms should audit wage, leave and worker classification, verify salary‑range postings, and evaluate AI‑driven recruiting...
DispatchHealth, Saint Francis Health System Launch New Hospital-at-Home Program
DispatchHealth and Saint Francis Health System have launched a hospital‑at‑home program in eastern Oklahoma, allowing patients to receive full or partial acute care in their residences. The pilot currently treats five to six patients daily, with a virtual unit capacity...
Homewatch CareGivers CEO On Engaging Clients Beyond Their Caregiver
Homewatch CareGivers, now operating 302 offices in 43 U.S. states and Latin America, plans to add roughly 40 new locations each year through 2028, targeting markets like Hawaii, Alaska and Maine. CEO Todd Houghton is centering the growth strategy on...
You Don’t Need Your EMR: Inside the Next Phase of Home-Based Care
Tallio’s AI operating system has replaced the traditional EMR at Caring Seasons Health, slashing admission processing from three‑plus hours to just 68 minutes. The platform automates documentation, cutting overall paperwork time by roughly 75% and delivering near‑perfect clean claim rates....
