Home Health & Hospice Week

NAHC’s legislative priorities vary widely from basic to far-fetched.

What favorable changes can you expect the National Association for Home Care & Hospice to give you this year? Home health Medicare Advantage benefits, reimbursement for telehomecare interactions, a "sick tax" block, and many more items are on the NAHC’s massive to-do list for 2013.

The NAHC Board of Directors released its 2013 Legislative Priorities, developed using survey responses from members, as well as input from the NAHC Government Affairs Committee and the NAHC Forum of State Associations.

NAHC will distribute the document to every Congressional office in conjunction with its upcoming "March on Washington." The legislative priorities include:

1. Secure the strategic role Congress intends for home care and hospice in addressing the nation’s acute, chronic and long-term care needs --

a. Ensure home care and hospice participation in Transitions in Care, Accountable Care Organizations, Chronic Care Management, Health Information Exchanges, and other health care delivery reforms;

b. Allow nurse practitioners and physician assistants to sign home health plans of care;

c. Recognize telehomecare interactions as bona fide Medicare and Medicaid services;

d. Enact a comprehensive home and community-based long-term care program for all age groups; and

e. Ensure the availability of home care and hospice personnel to meet the growing needs of the Baby Boomer generation.

2. Ensure appropriate and adequate reimbursement for and access to Medicare home health services --

a. Oppose a "sick tax" — block efforts to impose a fee paid by patients to access Medicare home health services;

b. Establish reasonable standards for rebasing Medicare home health services payment rates;

c. Reform Medicare home health face-to-face encounter requirement;

d. Require Medicare Advantage to provide a home health benefit fully equivalent to original Medicare;

e. Ensure full market basket updates to Medicare home health;

f. Enact Medicare home care and hospice program integrity measures; and

g. Establish transparent and accurate processes for modification of PPS payment rates and case-mix adjustments.

3. Ensure appropriate and adequate reimbursement for and access to hospice services —

a. Ensure the full market basket update for the Medicare hospice benefit;

b. Revise requirements for hospice face-to-face encounters;

c. Oppose expansion of copayments for Medicare hospice benefit;

d. Closely oversee revision of hospice benefit payment system; and

e. Ensure access to hospice care for rural patients.

4. Protect and expand access to home and community-based services under Medicaid --

a. Establish Medicaid home care as a mandatory benefit and support rebalancing of long-term care expenditures in state Medicaid programs in favor of home care;

b. Mandate hospice coverage under Medicaid;

c. Establish reasonable standards for consolidation of Medicare fee-for-service payments with Medicaid for dual-eligible beneficiaries;

d. Ensure access to home care in Medicaid managed long-term care;

e. Enact Medicaid home care and hospice program integrity measures;

f. Ensure appropriate Medicaid rates for home care and hospice; and

g. Support an increase in the Federal Medicaid Match and oppose caps on federal payments.

5. Protect access to home care and hospice services, including for care paid directly by individuals --

a. Modify employer responsibilities in health reform to address home care-specific needs;

b. Oppose changes to the companionship services exemption to the Fair Labor Standards
Act; and

c. Require coverage of home health care and hospice as essential health insurance benefits.

To view the complete 2013 Legislative Priorities for the NAHC, go to www.nahc.org/LegBlueprint/2013_LegislativeBlueprint.pdf.