McKinley Bill Good for Seniors

As executive director of the West Virginia Council of Home Care Agencies, representing 45 home health agencies across the state, I can firmly state that home is where aging seniors would like to remain – no matter the circumstances.

The care skilled home healthcare providers offer is most often post-acute care (PAC), which helps patients heal and rehabilitate after a hospital stay and includes assistance in medication and chronic condition management. Despite our ability to provide quality care in the home, Medicare’s current post-acute care program creates challenges for both patients and providers. To ensure our senior patients receive the most effective care in the most clinically appropriate setting, we must advance reforms that promote better care coordination and communication across all care settings.

This is why I commend Congressman McKinley for introducing the Bundling and Coordinating Post-Acute (BACPAC) Act – a bill that will fundamentally change the way Medicare pays for post-acute care by expanding patient choice and allowing providers to work in a coordinated, efficient manner to keep people out of the hospital and healthy at home.

This legislation rewards the quality of care over the quantity of care, benefiting patients, providers and taxpayers. Under BACPAC, special care coordinators are used to manage patient care plans They are then held accountable if a patient’s health deteriorates, and rewarded with savings if a patient remains healthy.

The BACPAC ACT not only puts the patient at the center of care resulting in better outcomes, it also saves money by reducing Medicare spending through pro-patient reforms that protect beneficiary access and choice.

I commend Congressman McKinley for introducing this important Medicare reform legislation. His leadership is exactly what West Virginia’s seniors need.

Laura Friend
Middlebourne

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