Op-ed: Congress should pass bipartisan legislation protecting Medicare home health
Inflation is hitting every American hard, and it is becoming an increasingly major concern for America’s healthcare system. Like other providers who live to serve patients, the home health community is still reeling from the economic impact of the pandemic. Now, policy decisions being made in Washington could make a bad situation worse by imposing massive cuts to Medicare home health services. If not addressed, the damage to the home health system would have serious implications for seniors’ ability to access care where they most prefer: their own homes.
Medicare is considering a roughly 8 percent permanent payment cut to home health services starting next year. If implemented, the cuts would drastically slash payments at a time when several economic factors — from sky-high gas prices to increases in labor and supply costs to soaring inflation — are already fueling a workforce crisis in the home health community.
On top of that, Medicare has proposed an additional $2 billion in cuts by way of a claw-back for home health services provided during the height of the pandemic from 2020-2021 as well as another $1 billion for those provided this year. In total, Medicare’s proposed cuts would add up to $18 billion over the next 10 years, including $117 million in Illinois next year alone.
The impact of these Medicare cuts could be dire for home health providers and the patients and families they serve throughout our state and across the country. Illinois’ entire congressional delegation should help protect the more than 138,000 Illinoisans who rely on Medicare to receive highly skilled, professional care in the home setting where they are safer and more comfortable.
A good start would be to pass the Preserving Access to Home Health Act of 2022 (S. 4605/H.R. 8581). This bipartisan legislation in the House and Senate would prevent Medicare from imposing these proposed cuts to home health services until 2026 and block the $2 billion clawback. That would give Medicare more time to refine its approach and ensure payments to home health providers are fair, accurate, and ensure patients’ continued access to care.
It would also give home health agencies, providers, and clinicians more time to recover from the myriad of policy and economic factors that have hindered our ability to keep up with the rising demand for home health services. In recent years, despite home health referrals increasing by 33 percent, actual home health admission rates have dropped by 15 percent due to increased labor costs and staffing challenges that are now being intensified by inflation.
There’s a simple reason demand for in-home care is increasing. It is a far safer, more preferred healthcare option for older Americans. In fact, a survey of Medicare beneficiaries found that nearly all respondents (94%) would prefer to receive post-hospital care in the comfort of their own homes rather than in a hospital, short-term skilled nursing facility, or other healthcare settings.
Not only that, but Medicare home health patients have on average far greater health concerns than the overall Medicare population, so in-home care just makes more sense for them. According to data, more than 93 percent of home health patients in Illinois have three or more chronic health conditions compared to nearly a quarter of overall Medicare beneficiaries. Therefore, these cuts would target some of our state’s most at-risk patients.
Congress should not let that happen. By supporting and helping to pass the Preserving Access to Home Health Act, Illinois lawmakers can help protect home health patients and ensure the home health community can continue to keep up with the growing needs in our communities while we continue to recover from the pandemic and contend with rising inflation. Perhaps most importantly, the support of our state’s lawmakers would also help send a message to Medicare that our nation’s seniors deserve better.
Sara Ratcliffe is executive director of the Illinois HomeCare & Hospice Council.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Congress should protect Medicare home health services from cuts
