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Home Health & Hospice Week

Budget:

President's Budget Gives Home Care A Break

Published on Tue Jan 18, 2011

Industry still faces an uphill battle in this budget-cutting year. Home health agencies breathed a sigh of relief when President Obama issued his proposed budget for 2012 on Feb. 14. The budget contains no home health copayments, in spite of a recommendation for one that the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission makes in its forthcoming March report to Congress (see Eli's HCW, Vol. XX, No. 4, p. 26). It also contains no Medicare provider reimbursement cuts. Home care doesn't get off scot free in the President's budget proposal, however. The budget calls for increased fraud and abuse fighting activities. In particular, it calls for a system to validate physicians' orders for high-risk services, including home health services and durable medical equipment, the National Association for Home Care & Hospice points out. What that would actually translate into operationally is unclear. On the DME side, the proposal calls for Medicaid payment rates [...]
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