Home Health & Hospice Week

Industry Notes:

LEGISLATIVE PICTURE BODES WELL FOR HOME CARE

Congress rejects President's proposal for HHA cuts -- for now. Lawmakers seem to be receptive to home care providers' arguments for leniency this session. Both the House and Senate Budget Committees approved budget resolution legislation that does not include any cuts to home health agencies,notes the National Association for Home Care & Hospice. The full House and Senate still have to pass the legislation and agree on a single resolution, but it looks promising that lawmakers will specify no home care cuts. What this means: Congress' budget resolution isn't binding and is just a blueprint for the 2010 budget, but it shows which way lawmakers are leaning -- and that appears to be away from the billions in HHA payment cuts the Obama administration proposed in its budget plan (see Eli's HCW, Vol.XVIII, No. 10, p. 74). The Obama proposal was "flying against political will," concludes consultant Pat Laff with Laff Associates [...]
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