Home Health & Hospice Week

In advance of the home health final rule expected any day, two lawmakers have introduced legislation to avert the cut expected to be included in the rule, as well as previous regulations. U.S. Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Susan Collins (R-ME) have introduced the Preserving Access to Home Health Act of 2023, according to trade groups.

“The bill is designed to address deep cuts made to home health by [the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services] during the implementation the Medicare home health payment system, the Patient-Driven Groupings Model,” the National Association for Home Care & Hospice says.

“The bill would repeal the requirement that … CMS make determinations related to the impact of behavior changes on estimated aggregate expenditures and would eliminate CMS’s authority to adjust home health payments based on such determinations under Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM),” LeadingAge explains.

The bill also “instructs the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) to review and report on aggregate trends under Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, and other payers and consider the impact of all payers on access to care for Medicare home health beneficiaries,” LeadingAge adds.

“We strongly support this essential legislation as current policy positions of CMS put access to home health services for the over three million beneficiaries that utilize this care in jeopardy,” NAHC President William Dombi says in a release. “The Medicare home health benefit has shrunk over the last decade due to various payment cuts,” Dombi says.

“This legislation offers the stability the Medicare home health community so urgently needs,” Joanne Cunningham, CEO of the Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare, says in a release.