GAHHA commends Congressman Price for introducing SAVE Medicare Home Health Act

Georgia Association for Home Health Agencies, Inc. (GAHHA) today thanked Congressman Tom Price (R-Roswell) for introducing new Medicare legislation that would replace across-the-board Medicare cuts with targeted reform that will improve 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 cuts instituted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on January 1. The SAVE Medicare Home Health Act would repeal the cuts, which CMS has projected will force "approximately 40 percent" of all home health providers to suffer net losses. 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 Georgia, data predicts nearly a fourth of the state's home health agencies will be operating in the red by 2017 due to the Medicare cuts, putting home health at risk for 19,300 seniors and jobs at risk for 4,700 home health professionals.

"We applaud Congressman Price for taking this very important step to securing seniors' access to the high-quality, cost-reducing home healthcare they prefer," stated Judy Adams, Executive Director of the Georgia Association for Home Health Agencies, Inc. "By repealing the Medicare cut beginning January 1, 2015, this legislation will protect access to the quality, skilled home healthcare on which more than 85,000 seniors across Georgia depend.

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 will incentivize home healthcare agencies to deliver high-quality care to beneficiaries and reduce hospital readmission rates, which represents a positive and proven approach to achieving savings without disrupting patient care. In this manner, the bill would enable Georgia seniors to remain in their homes, rather than return to institutional settings, and would achieve significant savings for the Medicare program.

Added Adams, "We thank Congressman Price for his leadership on this issue and look forward to working with his colleagues in Congress to ensure this important reform proposal becomes law."