Home health, other Medicare providers face pay cuts

Bloomberg/The Washington Post: Home health providers face Medicare payment cuts next year. "Gentiva Health Services and Amedisys are among the providers of at-home health care to receive lower Medicare payments next year under U.S. government changes to the program. A 4.89 percent reduction in home health spending for the elderly is among annual modifications in Medicare affecting hospitals, doctors and providers in the United States. Most rates take effect in January, though payments for doctors start to drop Dec. 1, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said in a statement this week. " A panel that advised Congress on Medicare issues found in 2008 that home health agencies were making 17 percent profits on their Medicare business (Wayne, 11/5).

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This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.