Oregon Association for Home Care Commends Congressman Greg Walden for Introducing Medicare Legislation to Improve Access to and the Quality of Home Healthcare

SALEM, Ore., July 15, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Oregon Association for Home Care (OAHC) today thanked Congressman Greg Walden for introducing new Medicare legislation that would replace across-the-board rebasing cuts with targeted reform that improves the quality of home healthcare services.

The Securing Access Via Excellence (SAVE) Medicare Home Health Act (H.R. 5110) offers an alternative to the 14 percent, four-year rebasing cuts instituted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on January 1.  The SAVE Medicare Home Health Act would repeal the rebasing cuts, which CMS has projected will force "approximately 40 percent" of all home health providers to suffer net loss.  In their place, the SAVE Medicare Home Health Act utilizes hospital readmission reform to achieve savings by improving care for Medicare beneficiaries and reducing avoidable spending.

In Oregon, data predicts 72 percent of the state's home health agencies will be operating at a net loss by 2017 due to the Medicare rebasing cuts, putting home health at risk for 15,236 seniors and jobs at risk for 2,789 home health professionals.

"Oregon has long been a leading provider of high quality cost effective care through innovative healthcare, including home care to Oregonians in need. Congressman Walden's support and sponsorship of the SAVE Medicare Home Health Act is further demonstration of his understanding of the importance of home healthcare in our State," said Shaune Mattsson, President of OAHC. "We will continue to work with and encourage Congressman Walden to ensure that the sickest and most frail of our population are not adversely impacted by payment decisions and that with this legislation, Congress can ensure that agencies make the right choice to provide quality care to all patients in need that qualify."

Data show that seniors who would be impacted are among the most vulnerable in the Medicare program, since they are older, poorer, sicker and more likely to be disabled and of an ethnic or racial minority than all other Medicare beneficiaries combined.  In addition, recent analyses by Avalere Health found that home health beneficiaries, the professional caregivers who serve them, and the family members who support them are primarily women.

The legislation establishes a Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) Program, which would reduce hospital readmissions by establishing incentives that reward positive outcomes.  In this manner, the bill would enable millions of seniors to remain in their homes, rather than return to institutional settings, and would achieve significant savings for the Medicare program. 

Added Mattsson, "OAHC graciously thanks Congressman Walden for continuing to support the delivery of high quality home healthcare in Oregon and nationally, through the introduction of SAVE Medicare Home Health Act, to showcase the value of focusing home healthcare reimbursement on quality measures of care versus the arbitrary cuts the industry has endured to-date."

Additional cosponsors of the SAVE Medicare Home Health Act, introduced today in the U.S. House of Representatives, include Representatives Charles Boustany (LA-3), Sean Duffy (WI-7), Renee Ellmers (NC-2), Sam Graves (MO-6), Tom Latham (IA-3), David McKinley (WV-1), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA-5), Erik Paulsen (MN-3), Tom Price (GA-6) and Glenn Thompson (PA-5).

Learn more at www.oahc.org.

SOURCE Oregon Association for Home Care (OAHC)