Debbie Stabenow, Susan Collins Advocate Against Home Health Payment Cuts In Letter To CMS

Home Health Care News / By Andrew Donlan  

Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) recently sent a letter to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, urging her and the agency to avoid cuts to home health payment as it nears time to release a proposed rule for 2025. 

“We appreciate CMS’ commitment to helping people get the care they need, where they need it.

This must include home health services for people with Medicare,” the senators wrote. “As CMS proceeds to develop Medicare home health payment rates for 2025, we urge you to consider the value home health care provides to the Medicare program and its beneficiaries.”

Generally, the home health payment rule proposal comes out sometime in June, with the final rule coming out at some point in late October or early November.

Since the implementation of the Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) in 2020, home health providers have seen steep and permanent cuts to payment. For instance, over the last two years, providers have seen cuts of 2.890% and -3.925% materialize.

“We are concerned that CMS recently finalized home health payment methodology that has led to steep cuts, essentially canceling out market basket updates intended to help Medicare payments keep up with inflation,” the senators continued. “Under this methodology, Medicare home health payment rates have been stagnant over the past three years, and CMS has indicated that further cuts are planned.”

The Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare (PQHH) released a data brief to illustrate how severe the cuts’ impact would be over the next five years – if not mitigated – in late April.

On Friday, PQHH commended Stabenow and Collins for taking action.

“Senators Stabenow and Collins are true champions for Medicare home health, and we applaud their continued leadership to protect the Medicare benefit and access to home-based healthcare for older Americans,” PQHH CEO Joanne Cunningham said in a statement. “We urge CMS to listen to the Senators’ advice to ensure beneficiary access to home health is prioritized in their rulemaking.”