Home Health & Hospice Week

Minimum wage changes could be ahead.

Home health agencies are probably out of the woods for Medicare cuts this year, but they can't count on it quite yet.

Now that both the House of Representatives and Senate are firmly in Democrats' hands for the next legislative session, observers don't expect the lame duck congressional session that began Nov. 13 and resumes after Thanksgiving to advance Medicare legislation. That means HHAs should see their 3.3 percent inflation update begin intact on Jan. 1.

But it may not stay that way. Legislators will address Medicare issues, particularly the cut to physician payment rates, at the beginning of the year, experts predict. As in the past, home care could become a funding source for the physician fix.

Labor costs: Another legislative issue that looms large for some home care providers is the minimum wage. A Democratic-controlled Congress is likely to want to raise the minimum wage, which could require HHAs to pay more to their home health aides and other minimum-wage workers.

Some states are taking minimum wage increases into their own hands. In the Nov. 7 elections, Nevada voters approved a measure that would raise the state's minimum wage level to $1 above the federal minimum wage of $5.15, reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The law that takes effect Nov. 28 also will count overtime based on an eight-hour work day rather than a 40-hour work week, the newspaper says.