The Choose Home Care Act, designed to increase access to home health care following hospitalization for eligible Medicare beneficiaries by offering a safe, high-quality post-acute option for nursing home-level services at home, was initially introduced in the Senate in July. In early October, a companion bipartisan bill was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill has been supported by several industry associations including the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC), Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare (PQHH), AARP, Leading Age, Allies for Independence, the National Council on Aging, Moving Health Home, the Council of State Home Care & Hospice Associations, and the Forum of State Associations.
“Since being introduced in the Senate, Choose Home has received an outpouring of support from America’s home health community as well as consumer and patient advocates alike, which we believe demonstrates how important it is to increase access to safe, cost-effective care at home for Medicare beneficiaries after hospitalization. We commend Reps. Cuellar and Comer for their leadership on issues impacting the delivery of home care and are excited to see this bill introduced in the U.S. House,” said National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) President William A. Dombi, Esquire.
Inside the Choose Home Bill
The Choose Home option would:
- Give nursing home-eligible patients the option to receive health care at home following a hospitalization.
- Allow patients to receive all care services provided under the Medicare Home Health benefit.
- Enable patients to receive expanded home health benefit services and transportation, meals, home modifications, remote patient monitoring, telehealth services, and personal care services for 30 days.
- Not include cost sharing.
- Combine payments for the home health amount and fixed add-on for expanded services.
- Cap add-on payments for expanded services at 80% of the skilled nursing facility (SNF) 30-day payment amount.
According to Home Care magazine, recent polling data from Morning Consult show strong support for post-hospital care in the home with 94% of Medicare-aged respondents saying they would prefer health care at home to a nursing home. In the same poll, 86% of respondents expressed support for the Choose Home legislation, including 92% of Democrat respondents and 83% of Republican respondents.
The Choose Home model is slated to create significant cost savings for the Medicare program. Estimates suggest the program could generate Medicare savings of $144-$247 million per year, with $1.6-$2.8 billion in savings over 10 years, in SNF care substitutions.1
An estimated 35% of nursing home patients could be diverted to home health care if the Choose Home Care Act of 2021 becomes law, according to Keith Myers, chairman and CEO of LHC Group, who spoke on a panel at Home Health Care News’ FUTURE conference earlier this month. LHC Group is national provider of in-home healthcare services.
We will continue to keep you updated as this bill makes it through the U.S. House. Manchester Specialty Programs specializes in providing agents and brokers with integrated business insurance solutions to meet the needs of Home Care, Allied Health and Human/Social Services organizations. For more information about how our products and services can help protect your insureds, please contact us at 855.972.9399.
1PQHH