Home Health & Hospice Week

All the money stripped out of home care providers' Medicare payments is ending up somewhere. In its annual report, the Medicare Board of Trustees says "the financial outlook for both the major trust funds supporting Medicare has been substantially improved as a result of the Patient Protec-tion and Affordable Care Act" -- aka, the health care reform law passed this spring. The Part A trust fund is now projected to remain solvent until 2029, 12 years longer than reported last year. And Part B spending, which currently equals 1.5 percent of gross domestic product, now is projected to reach 2.5 percent of GDP in 75 years. Last year, that was estimated at 4.5 percent. "The largest amount of projected savings under the Affordable Care Act comes from lower annual increases in the prices Medicare pays for services by hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, and most other providers," CMS [...]