Senators ask CMS to work with home health agencies and providers before implementing payment rule
Senators said that while they support efficiencies in Medicare, it should be done in a manner that doesn't compromise access to care for seniors.
Senators have joined home health providers in asking the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to delay the agency's proposed rule on home health payment until stakeholders can analyze and understand the impact of the proposed changes.
Forty-nine Senators signed a Sept. 26 letter to Tom Price, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, and Seema Verma, administrator for CMS.
[Also: Registered nurse convicted in $20 million home healthcare fraud scheme involving two agencies]
The comment deadline on the proposed rule was Sept. 25.
The Senators said that while they support efficiencies in Medicare, it should be done in a manner that doesn't compromise access to care for seniors.
[Also: Medicare proposed changes would cut home health reimbursement]
The Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare, a coalition of home health providers, said it applauded the bipartisan support among Senators led by Republican Marco Rubio and Democrat Bill Nelson, both of Florida.
"While we are extremely concerned about the impact HHGM would have on the delivery of home health and strongly urge withdrawal of the proposal, we are also optimistic about our ability to find a solution if sufficient time is provided for us to work collaboratively with CMS on a payment approach that protects patient access to care and supports better efficiencies within the home health benefit," said Keith Myers, chairman of the Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare.
The proposed rule would alter Medicare's home health payment system by unevenly distributing payments while cutting home health reimbursements by another $950 million in 2019 alone, according to the Partnership. The rule would put 3.5 million beneficiaries at risk for care disruptions, with seniors living in rural and underserved areas disproportionately affected by these cuts.
Also affected would be providers who make critical investments in efficiency and cost-saving technologies, the Partnership said.
The Senators and home health organizations want HHS and CMS to keep the home health group model rule out of the 2018 home health prospective payments system final rule and to provide additional information about the development of the model's cost estimates.
"We have heard from a number of stakeholders who are concerned that the proposed rule lacks sufficient information and data points to allow home health agencies to accurately estimate the impact of the proposed HHGM," the Senators wrote. "It is important that those most affected by the proposed rule have the opportunity, as well as the necessary information, to evaluate any consequences prior to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' finalizing the proposed reforms."
Twitter: @SusanJMorse
Email the writer: susan.morse@himssmedia.com
