Industry Notes:
PROVIDERS EYE MEDICARE PROVISIONS IN STIMULUS BILL
Published on Tue Jan 06, 2009
Hospices would benefit from $134 million provision. Home care providers are hoping for the best as Congress hammers out its economic stimulus legislation. So far hospices are the only home care providers specifically targeted for help. In the version of the bill the House passed Jan. 28, the budget neutrality adjustment factor (BNAF) cuts that took effect Oct. 1 would be retroactively delayed for one year. That provision would mean an extra $134 million in hospice payments, the Associated Press reports. The bill overall will cost $819 billion. But so far the Senate version of the bill does not contain the measure. And it may not be likely to, if lawmakers heed the AP article that was critical of the provision as the product of intense lobbying. The Alliance for Care at the End of Life,which is the National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization's lobbying arm, spent close to $1 [...]