Plight of home care industry gets national attention
By MATTHEW HAY
HHBR Washington Correspondent
WASHINGTON Home care representatives were buoyed by the front-page attention the drastic cuts to Medicare home health spending received in the New York Times April 21. But they were quick to say that so far, none of this publicity has translated into a proposal from the Clinton Administration or Congress to restore any portion of the 45% reduction Medicare home health outlays have experienced over the last two years. So far, the most far-reaching proposal offered by Congress would eliminate the additional 15% cut in reimbursement, representatives say.
"I am pleased this made the front page of the New York Times," said Scott Lara, director of government relations for the Home Care Association of America (Jacksonville, FL). "But I am disappointed that the Clinton Administration has not taken this information and acted on it.
"There has been no effort to restore any of these funds or even target them toward sicker, more medically complex patients," Lara added. He also criticized Congress for not developing a proposal to restore funds. "If this is not evidence that a restoration is required, I don’t know what is," he said.
The Times report cited recent data from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO; Washington) that Medicare spending on home health plunged 45% in the last two years from $17.5 billion in 1997 to $14.9 billion in 1998 to $9.7 billion last year. It also notes that CBO’s original estimate that Medicare would spend $127 billion on home health between 1998 and 2002 has been slashed $69 billion to $58 billion.
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