Home Health & Hospice Week

If insurers including Medicare really want to get the most bang for their buck out of the home health benefit, it needs to change, according to a new study from medical school professors.

“Home health is well positioned to offer services to individuals in their own homes, which is an increasingly important care option during the pandemic,” says a Commonwealth Fund study authored by Courtney Harold Van Houtven of the Duke University School of Medicine and Walter D. Dawson of the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) School of Medicine. “However, the current design of the Medicare home health benefit is not sufficient to meet the needs of postacute beneficiaries.”

Plus: “Like many health care providers, home health agencies often struggle to maintain an adequate supply of personal protective equipment (PPE), which is essential to protect both providers and consumers from the spread of infection,” the study notes. “These challenges have received far less national attention than the shortages experienced in other settings, such as SNFs and hospitals.”

Among policy changes that would help beneficiaries are creating a more “robust” benefit and coordinating medical and non-medical care. For example, “if Medicare were to cover more than one home health visit per day, it could help close the quality gap between SNF and home health care, avoid unnecessary institutional postacute care, and reduce costs,” the study suggests. “Expanding the coverage conditions for telehealth home health visits also could help address the postacute care needs of patients recovering from COVID-19.”

The 11-page study is at www.commonwealthfund.org/sites/default/files/2020-10/VanHoutven_Medicare_home_health_COVID_ib_v2.pdf.