Home Health & Hospice Week

HHAs, suppliers squarely on the budget chopping block. Home care providers are targets for Medicare cuts this year, but at least now they're not alone. The Senate Finance Committee has issued more ideas for how to fund comprehensive health care reform, and home health agencies and durable medical equipment suppliers top the list of ideas. But hospitals, physicians, Part D drugs, and more providers are also on the lawmakers' list of options for cutting health care costs. "Home health is still on the target list," acknowledges William Dombi of the National Association for Home Care & Hospice. But "at least now it has company." Under President Obama's budget plan, HHAs were the only providers singled out for Medicare cuts. The Senate Finance Committee is considering a much wider range of reductions for providers. That diminishes the likelihood that the entire Medicare provider savings sought will come from HHAs, Dombi hopes. [...]