Home Care Payments Will Be Getting Close Scrutiny in 2008

On October 17, 2007 – the Senate Finance Committee met to discuss ways to pay for a fix to physician payment rates in 2008 and 2009, according to press reports. The heart of the meeting was to talk about the

$30 billion in cuts needed to avert the doc pay cut and make other Medicare changes, and home care once again landed on the chopping block to have many home services radically reduced or have their funding cut all together.
Some of the specifics of the home care that were discussed to be directly affected were wheelchair suppliers and oxygen providers are under discussion for reimbursement reductions to pay for the fix. The parties involved were sharply divided. The Democrats presented their plan which would finance the physician pay hike by cutting payments to certain Medicare managed care plans. Republicans, however, insist that rural patients depend on Medicare HMOs which would be affected under the Dem’s plan. The goal of the Democratic leaders was to mark up a Medicare bill by the end of October, but “they’re dreaming,” Sen. Trent Lott (R-MO) commented to reporters.

The end of October has come and gone and no firm decisions have been made as of yet, we’ll update you as soon as we hear changes are agreed upon for Medicare funded home visits.

View all Articles by: Melissa Clark, CCS-P