West Virginia Home Health Community Rallies Against Medicare Cuts to Home Healthcare

PARKERSBURG, W.Va., Sept. 24, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Representatives of the West Virginia home health community – including Parkersburg area clinicians, family members and advocates as well as national leaders – today took part in a Save Home Health rally to commend special guest Congressman David McKinley (WV-1) and speak out against unprecedented Medicare cuts of 14 percent to home health services that went into effect on January 1 as part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  Home health representatives expressed grave concern that such deep cuts are already negatively impacting patient access to skilled home health services and healthcare jobs across the state.

In a regulation issued late last year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) cut the Medicare home health benefit by 3.5 percent annually over the next four years (2014-2017) – the maximum cut allowed under the ACA.  The Medicare cut – called "rebasing" – will amount to an unprecedented total cut of 14 percent.  As a result, CMS has projected that a full 40 percent of home health agencies nationwide will face net losses, which home health representatives have warned will lead to jobs loss, small business bankruptcy and closures, and – worst of all – barriers to care for vulnerable, homebound patients.

Nationally, data show that a cut of this magnitude could result in loss of access to home health for more than 1.3 million Medicare seniors and disabled and jobs loss for hundreds of thousands of American workers.  Across West Virginia, these cuts stand to leave nearly 35 percent of home health agencies operating at a net loss by the time these cuts fully take effect – jeopardizing access to care for the state's 35,000 home health patients and job security for more than 7,200 home health professionals statewide.

"Drastic cuts to home health threaten West Virginia's oldest and sickest seniors, reduce quality of care, increase costs, and cause job losses," stated Congressman McKinley.  "Seniors in rural areas deserve access to the best care possible, but these cuts threaten to remove home health as an option in many areas and will limit choice. The impact of these cuts will fall on the most vulnerable members of our communities.  These deep Medicare cuts are wrong and must be stopped, which is why I support the SAVE Medicare Home Health Act."

Congressman McKinley is a chief cosponsor of the Securing Access Via Excellence (SAVE) Medicare Home Health Act (H.R. 5110), a bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives to replace the unprecedented rebasing cuts with hospital readmission reform to achieve savings by improving care for Medicare beneficiaries and reducing avoidable spending. In doing so, the bill would enable millions of seniors to remain in their homes, rather than institutional settings, achieving significant savings for the Medicare program. 

"The West Virginia Council of Home Care Agencies (WVCHCA) is pleased to work with Congressman David McKinley in his continued efforts to preserve the home health care benefit for West Virginians," said Laura Friend, Executive Director of the WVCHCA.  "Congressman McKinley recognizes the value of home health, which enable our vulnerable seniors to remain at home while receiving healthcare services such as skilled nursing and therapy.   We commend his leadership on this issue and offer our continued support so West Virginians can remain in the place they love most, home."

Home health advocates further stressed the value of home health within the Medicare program.  Studies show that home healthcare represents the most cost-effective care setting for seniors. "Based on this fact alone, we should be securing seniors' access to home healthcare, not endangering it," added Friend.

Home healthcare is regarded as providing clinically advanced solutions to some of the healthcare system's most challenging dilemmas, including chronic care management and post-acute care.  Home health allows patients to age with safety and dignity in a setting older Americans overwhelmingly prefer.

To learn more, please visit http://savehomehealth.org.

SOURCE Save Home Health