Home Health & Hospice Week

Hospice cuts for SNF RHC rates also proposed.

While politicians argue over what the definition of “cut” is, healthcare providers are looking anxiously at the Trump administration’s new budget proposal for 2021.

Good news: “Beginning in FY 2026, a unified post-acute care payment system would span all four post-acute care settings … with payments based on episodes of care and patient characteristics rather than the site of service, and would include a unified quality reporting program across all four settings,” says a Department of Health and Human Services budget summary. That could mean encouraging patient care in the home, versus facilities.

Bad news: “Skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, and inpatient rehabilitation facilities will receive a lower annual Medicare payment update from FY 2021 to FY 2025” under the proposal, says the HHS budget document. The PAC PPS change would cut more than $100 billion from spending over the next 10 years, it estimates.

More bad news: The Trump administration also wants to pay hospices less for routine home care provided in skilled nursing and nursing facilities. The change would cut $4.5 billion from Medicare spending over 10 years.

The budget also includes proposals to implement intermediate sanctions for hospice surveys and post accreditation survey results and information for hospice. Overall, the budget includes about $750 billion in reduced Medicare spending over 10 years, and nearly $850 million in reduced Medicaid spending during the same time period.

With Democrats controlling the House of Representatives, the budget document is just a “list of suggestions,” as one Republican lawmaker noted. But lawmakers looking to fund their own budget priorities may turn to the list for ideas down the line.