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Home Health & Hospice Week

As the weak economy continues and states' budget crises deepen

Published on Wed Nov 17, 2010

As the weak economy continues and states' budget crises deepen, home care funding is put more at risk. For example: South Carolina's Medicaid program is proposing to stop covering hospice services altogether and to cut home health visits by a third, the Associated Press reports. The state is also proposing to scale back on coverage of certain durable medical equipment. The changes are due to a $228 million deficit in the state Department of Health and Human Services' budget, AP says. The coverage changes will push home health and hospice patients into nursing homes and hospitals, critics say. "Yes, people will shift. Yes, care will have to move about," state HHS director Emma Forkner told AP. "There's just simply is no more money in the state to pay for these things."
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