Home Health & Hospice Week

Legislation:

Health Care Reform Package Strips Billions From Home Care Spending

Providers have time to lobby for changes, trade group urges. The health care reform package passed by the House and Senate and on the way to becoming law contains bad news for home care providers -- but some silver linings too. Lawmakers turned in part to Medicare spending to fund the health care system changes. The legislation will cut about $39 billion over 10 years from Medicare home health agency spending, notes the National Association for Home Care & Hospice. The cuts include rebasing of prospective payment system rates phased in starting in 2014, a home health "productivity adjustment" cut in 2015, and inflation update reductions starting next year. The Visiting Nurse Associations of America has "deep reservations ... about the level of cuts Medicare home health and hospice providers will experience and the impact on the communities and patients they serve," VNAA says in a release. At least the [...]
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