Home Health & Hospice Week

Republicans also target 1099 reporting burden. The only thing standing between you and deep Medicare cuts may be your congressional representatives, and even that barrier may disappear by 2014. That's the year the Independent Payment Advisory Board would replace the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. The presidentially appointed 15-member IPAB, called "Super MedPAC" by some, will recommend cuts in Medicare payment rates. The difference: If Congress doesn't vote either for or against IPAB's recommended cuts, the cuts would take effect. In recent years, MedPAC has repeatedly recommended steeper pay cuts than Congress has imposed on home care providers. In an IPAB era, those steeper cuts could hit providers instead. Unless: Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) and 23 other Republicans have introduced legislation to repeal the IPAB mandate. In introducing the Medicare Decisions Accountability Act (H.R. 452), Roe, who is a physician, said, "This board's sole purpose is to control Medicare costs -- giving [...]