A new bill that would remove certain barriers to home-based care will soon be introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Expanding Care in the Home Act (ECHA) would, among other things, create a personal care services benefit in Medicare to give aid to beneficiaries who are unable to afford out-of-pocket payments but don’t […]
Category: Legislation
The Biden administration has made mention of home-based care regularly and intentionally during its tenure in the White House. It did so again Wednesday, this time through 50-plus directives for government agencies, many of which were home care-related. Though still just directives, the sitting president making this sweeping of an executive order focused on senior […]
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has dismissed a class action lawsuit that accused the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) of failing to properly administer the Medicare home health benefit. The plaintiffs had argued the home health services required under Medicare law were wholly insufficient. Medicare law authorizes coverage […]
With Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollment poised to surpass traditional Medicare, home health providers will be forced to engage with plans, or otherwise, be left behind. That’s according to William A. Dombi, the president of the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC). Dombi expressed this viewpoint during his keynote speech at the Illinois HomeCare […]
The Home Care Association of America (HCAOA) took to Capitol Hill Wednesday to educate lawmakers – and their staff – about home care and to highlight critical policy issues. The effort is part of the organization’s National Home Care Advocacy Day, which involved roughly 130 members from more than 21 states. The overall goal is […]
A bill that passed Wednesday on the state level is being touted as a potential blueprint to mitigating home-based care workforce shortages nationwide. In Frankfort, Kentucky on Wednesday, Gov. Andy Beshear passed the Kentucky Healthcare Workforce Development Act, legislation that aims to combat workforce shortages by building a public-private partnership that is designed to increase […]
Following the U.S. Senate’s request for information (RFI) regarding solutions to the national health care workforce crisis, the Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare (PQHH) submitted a comment letter on Saturday. The letter detailed the challenges the home-based care sector has been facing, and also included possible solutions. Among the potential solutions is recent state legislation […]
There are a number of states where home-based care providers are seeing the cost of employing caregivers and clinicians increase. California, Minnesota and New York are just a few examples of states where legislative changes have brought on higher wages. At the start of 2023, at least 23 states increased their minimum hourly wages as […]
The Biden Administration, as part of its 2024 proposed budget, plans to allocate $150 billion for home- and community-based services over the next 10 years. That, and a plan to keep Medicare from becoming insolvent in the near-term future, were the most relevant home-based care takeaways. Allocating resources to HCBS is a way for the […]
A number of lawmakers – including Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) – introduced a bill Thursday that would expand coverage of home- and community-based services under Medicaid. The HCBS Access Act was introduced by Casey, as a companion bill to the Better Care Better Jobs Act, which was originally unveiled in […]
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