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Nearly a quarter of a million Texans benefit from home health services each year. But now the federal government is threatening seniors’ access to this preferred form of care. Unless Medicare acts to protect home health, many older Texans may lose the ability to choose where they want to heal after being hospitalized.
Medicare home health care allows older Americans and people with disabilities to recover from serious injuries or illnesses in the safety of their own homes. It allows them to be surrounded by loved ones and recover in a familiar environment, making recovery a more comfortable journey. And it is no secret that patients prefer to recover at home. A new national poll from Morning consultation91 percent of older Americans and Medicare beneficiaries expressed a strong preference for receiving short-term rehabilitative or rehabilitative health care at home.
Home health care is not only popular with patients, but also a valuable employer. With more than 1,600 home health agencies across the state employing thousands of frontline workers, the home health sector is a large part of the Texas health care economy.
But now this important aspect of care is under threat. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently proposed a permanent 7.69% payment reduction for Medicare home health services beginning in 2023. If this proposal is implemented, a staggering $1.33 billion will be cut from home health care in 2023 alone, including more than $128 million in Texas.
In addition, Medicare has proposed $2 billion in subsidy cuts beginning in 2024 to recover payments made in the first two years of the pandemic and to recover $1 billion in services provided this year. The total reduction over the next 10 years could reach $18.15 billion. Taken together, this is all very bad news for optimal patient care.
These cuts are absolutely devastating to the financial stability of the entire home health care sector and are far greater than any cuts CMS has proposed before. The federal government does not seem to consider the growing demand for home health services. Patients are getting older and sicker, with more than 25% of home health users over the age of 85 and 43% having five or more chronic health conditions. These proposed cuts will only harm the ability of the most vulnerable seniors to access much-needed care. Medicare doesn’t take into account that home health is facing a serious workforce crisis, a staff shortage exacerbated by the pandemic.
Immediate action must be taken to stop these disruptions. Thankfully, lawmakers in Congress recently introduced the Home Health Access Act of 2022 (HR 8581/S 4605). This bipartisan legislation prevents Medicare from imposing these deep and damaging permanent payment cuts until 2026, providing stability while Medicare reforms its payment system as patients continue to have access to the care they choose and providers continue to recover from the pandemic.
As the founder and CEO of a Dallas-based home healthcare technology innovator since 2007, I have seen firsthand how critical home care is to patients. I commend Texas Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez for signing this popular, bipartisan bill and urge the rest of our Texas legislators to support these bills. The health of Texas Medicare beneficiaries depends on it.
John Olajide is the founder and CEO of Axx. He wrote this column for the Dallas Morning News.
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