Home Health & Hospice Week

Don't count a copay out yet. Many home care providers gave thanks when the so-called congressional Super Committee failed to come up with $1.2 trillion in budget cuts by its Thanksgiving deadline, but that gratitude may be short-lived. Home health agencies were pleased because the budget cutting package was presumed to include major home care cuts such as an HHA episode copayment and accelerated "rebasing" of prospective payment system. Now all Medicare providers are scheduled to receive 2 percent across-the-board cuts starting in 2013, but that is most likely a preferred alternative to the budget cuts in the works. (Correction: Eli's Home Care Week previously stated the 2 percent cuts would take place in 2012.) The 2 percent reduction will translate to $5 billion in cuts for HHAs over the next 10 years and $3 billion in hospice reductions, the National Asso-ciation for Home Care & Hospice calculates. While across-the-board [...]