Home Health & Hospice Week

Copays will drive up institutional costs, trade groups warn. Will they or won't they? At press time, home care providers and representatives were still waiting to see whether the so-called congressional super committee will agree on at least $1.2 trillion in budget cuts by Thanksgiving. Bad: If the committee can't come to an agreement, 2 percent across-the-board cuts for all Medicare providers are scheduled to kick in for 2012. That would be on top of the 2.3 percent cut already slated to take place Jan. 1. Worse? But if the congressional super committee does come to an agreement, it's very likely to include cuts for Medicare home care reimbursement anyway. And those cuts may be more damaging to your bottom line than the flat 2 percent reduction, observers worry. Chief among the suspected provisions is one for a home health agency copayment. Everyone from the Obama administration to the Medicare Payment [...]