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Lobbyists and some members of Congress are calling for the Biden administration to abandon proposed cuts to Medicare payment rates for home health services, arguing the cuts could have lasting effects on the industry.
A proposed rule, which the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issues annually to set prices for home health services, would call for a permanent 7.96 percent reduction in payments starting next year. The cuts are part of the agency’s attempt to implement a new home health care payment system that Congress passed in 2018.
The cuts are intended to bring Medicare spending on home health care before the new payment system takes effect, but industry groups argue the CMS bill is flawed — and some members of Congress agree.
“We see this as a really big issue for home health members, but it’s bad policy for aging services in general during this workforce crisis and this pandemic recovery,” said Molly Gurian, vice president for policy. LeadingAge, representing providers of aging services. “Hopefully CMS can respond to that and if not, Congress will respond to that because it could lead to a shutdown.”
“Medicare has long overpaid for home health care, and lower payments would better align payments with costs,” the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, or Medicare, which advises Congress, supported the cuts in an opinion letter to CMS.
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