Home Health & Hospice Week

Home care could be on the chopping block by the end of the month.

Congressional negotiators don't seem any closer to nailing down a funding source for the so-called "doc fix" that will avert a 27 percent cut to physicians' Medicare payment rates scheduled for March 1. That's potentially bad news for home care providers, since lawmakers may decide to raid home health agencies' rates to pay for the physician increase.

When Congress postponed the cut from Jan. 1 to March 1, it pointed the budget finger at hospitals and nursing homes to pay for the measure. But those industries are fighting back, suggesting other funding sources instead. Those sources include war savings, but other legislators are saying those savings are not a legitimate funding source.

Medicare spending on HHAs makes an attractive target, since the industry recorded an average profit margin of 19.4 percent in the latest year with data, 2010, according to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission.

Even if HHAs survive the doc fix legislation, there will be another battle to fight for the 2013 budget. President Obama is scheduled to release his 2013 budget Feb. 13, and it's rumored to include Medicare and Medicaid cuts, according to press reports.