CMS Proposes a 2.4% payment increase for hospice in 2027
Federal Register
Marketing Matters - Microblog
Short posts about the latest news, strategies, and perspectives for community-based and outpatient healthcare providers
Find full-length articles here: Marketing Matters
A new study shows in-home, post-stroke rehab cuts the incidence of accidental falls 33% while also improving community participation, self-efficacy, and mobility.
British Medical Journal
Lawmakers seek to defund private-equity held nursing homes. Bills proposed in both the U.S. House and Senate would stop all Medicare payments to the more than 400 nursing homes currently held by private-equity firms.
McKnight's Long-Term Care News
A move that could boost hospice utilization: The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed an advance care planning quality measure for several health care settings.
Hospice News
The amount of time users spend with each social platform is shifting. Advertisers and content creators have to adapt to a rapidly shifting environment. A picture post in Facebook is excluded from Reels, 40% of Facebook time, so the difference needs to be considered.
At 4.3 million, home health and personal care aides are now the single largest occupation in the United States. NeurologyLive
CMS announces a moratorium on new medical supply companies as part of a broader fraud prevention initiative. It’s important to distinguish between “fraud” and “improper payments,” which CMS often defines to include documentation discrepancies—not necessarily intentional wrongdoing. The moratorium may reduce new market entrants; it remains to be seen how this affects documentation standards or patient access. HME News
Amid a Federal PR campaign about how fraud crackdown will lower healthcare costs, it's important to note the pervasive miscategorization of documentation shortcomings as fraud - even when needed services were delivered correctly. GAO and CMS note that "improper payment" means documentation, not fraud. KFF
U.S. News & World Report released its first-ever ratings for the best home health agencies in the U.S. In addition to public data already in Medicare's comparison webpages, U.S. News used national surveys of patient experience. This could be a huge advantage for larger agencies, and others will need to hone their messaging strategy and credibility indicators to adapt. U.S. News & World Report
MedPAC To Recommend 7% Cut To 2027 Home Health Payment Rate Home Health Care News
EU finds Meta in breach of the Data Services Act. Amid massive account bans, blocking businesses and content creators from their profiles and pages, the European Commission finds that Meta's practice of banning people and not specifying which content was objectionable nor hearing replies from the business owners violates the rights of European users. Meanwhile, U.S. business owners have no such rights. European Commission
Telehealth Hospice Recertifications Temporarily Reinstated. Pandemic-era regulatory flexibilities governing telehealth utilization have been extended through Jan. 30, including hospice face-to-face recertifications. Hospice News
Facebook and Instagram Are No Longer Competitive or Worthwhile. Executives need to know that the reasons we once flocked to Facebook are no longer valid. Meta today is more reputation than real marketing value. Its ad platform and social networks now lag well behind competitive platforms in audience targeting, reach potential, reliability, and return on investment. Read Article
In high-value marketing, we advise disabling email spam filters. Invariably, an email with a $5K lead ends up in spam, so you have to check spam anyway. Better to manually manage spam and set up user-defined filters. This is a disadvantage of Google Workspace emails, where spam cannot be disabled.
Washington State will begin taxing advertising services on Oct 1, 2025. Creative design, campaign planning, SEM, and media placement fees will all be subject to retail sales tax for the first time. Even ad buys on platforms like Google & Facebook will be taxed if billed to WA clients. A major shift for agencies — and other states may be watching.
U.S. Supreme Court Weighs In On Patients’ Right to Freedom of Choice of Providers. The Court concluded that the law does not permit individuals to sue the States for violation of their right to freedom of choice of providers. Read Article
At first glance, these three referral leaks may sound like common sense. It’s easy to assume, “That’s not us. That’s the other guys.” But in our experience, these mistakes plague even the best: seasoned administrators at top-performing agencies, physicians, executives, and entrepreneurs. Read Article
Meta shareholders launch an $8-billion-dollar lawsuit against Zuckerberg for alleged privacy violations against their users. ABC News Australia
Businesses in the U.S. can claim a federal tax credit of up to $5,000 annually for making their websites ADA-compliant. ADA.gov Archive
A note from our President: I set up an individual hosting account with InMotion Hosting for a university project. They’re a good company with low prices. At first, their pricing was similar to ours or a bit lower. My most recent annual renewal was $158—about 60% more than what we charge, but with more limitations. We offer fair, upfront, consistent pricing with no gimmicks—and much lower rates.
—Gary Brazzell
Brazzell Marketing Agency ranks in the top 8% of direct-buy marketing agencies nationwide for active Google Ads! Most agencies listed in Google’s Ad Transparency Center have 11 or fewer active ads—suggesting 11 or fewer active clients. With ~205 search ads running now, Brazzell is in a league of its own. More proof that our campaigns don’t just look good—they work harder, scale wider, and deliver results for more clients nationwide.
Email Marketing to Doctors: Now You Can Do It. For decades, referral-based healthcare providers have asked the same question: “How can I email doctors to generate more referrals?” Until now, the answer has always been, “You can’t.” A powerful new ad option puts your message at the top of physicians’ email inboxes—without breaking compliance rules. Read Article
