Home Health & Hospice Week

Don't get too comfortable with 2008 rates.

Home health agencies aren't happy that the PPS refinements final rule cuts Medicare payment rates by 2.75 percent for supposed case mix creep. But another cut just as big still threatens HHAs' reimbursement.

That's because Congress is back in session and is considering legislation to eliminate the market basket increase to HHA rates for 2008. The inflation update is usually around 3 percent.

In August, the House passed a bill that would extend and expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The bill also had Medicare provisions, including a freeze on HHA payment rates (see Eli's HCW, Vol. XVI, No. 28) and cuts to oxygen and wheelchair reimbursement. A SCHIP bill the Senate passed had no Medicare provisions.

Capitol Hill insiders say the House is considering dropping the Medicare parts of the legislation to advance the SCHIP issue and come to a compromise with the Senate. But that rumor has brought out heavy lobbying from the American Medical Association, other physicians' groups and the AARP. They want the reversal of the 10 percent cut to physicians' payments, included in the House legislation, to take place.

Home care providers have some heavy-hitting lobbyists on their side as well. Nursing home groups and managed care plans are both pushing for the SCHIP bill that contains no Medicare provisions, since those groups also would see cuts under the House bill. Home Care Providers Battle Legislation Home health agencies participated in the National Association for Home Care & Hospice's "March on Washington" lobby day Sept. 10. Agencies from 45 states took part in the activity, says a NAHC spokesperson.

"It is imperative that home care's voice be heard," NAHC says. The trade group will hold more "virtual" lobbying days Sept. 18 and Oct. 9, it adds.

Home medical equipment providers were successful during the Congressional recess with a campaign to host members of Congress on their own turf, reports the American Association for Homecare.

Patrick Hanna of B&K Home Medical Services hosted a media-covered site visit with Rep. Paul Gillmor (R-OH) in Tiffin. More site visits in Ohio are planned, says Kam Yuricich of the Ohio Association of Medical Equipment Services.

The oxygen and power wheelchair cuts proposed in the House version of the SCHIP bill have been raised in congressional meetings and have generated local press in Alabama, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, among other states, according to AAHomecare.

Timeline: The legislative session is scheduled to end Oct. 1, but often runs over. HHAs may not learn their final 2008 payment rates until the end of the year. They could even see retroactive reductions to the rates, such as occurred for 2006 rates. • President Bush has named CMS Administrator nominee Kerry Weems as CMS Acting Administrator, [...]