Washington Update

• U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) has co-sponsored legislation that will give Medicare home health beneficiaries improved opportunities to leave their homes periodically. The Homebound Clarification Act of 2000, written by Sen. Jim Jeffords (R-VT), gives seniors who qualify for home health benefits the ability to go to church or attend adult day care center activities that could keep them from qualifying for Medicare home health benefits. The bill clarifies that while beneficiaries must normally be unable to leave home in order to receive Medicare benefits, periodic asbsences, such as therapeutic exercise, church participation, or adult day care, would be allowed, reported the Bangor Daily News (Bangor, ME).