Senators float bill shielding home health providers from Medicare cuts

As home health providers await a proposed home health payment rule, U.S. senators introduced a bill Thursday morning that would protect them from Medicare cuts amounting to billions of dollars over the next decade.

Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) introduced the Preserving Access to Home Health Act of 2023. The bill would block a so-called permanent behavioral adjustment of -7.85% to the home health program by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Such a cut translates to more than $18 billion over the next 10 years, according to the National Association for Home Care & Hospice. The bill also would stop CMS from enacting a so-called temporary behavioral adjustment, which may take effect as soon as next year and could total $3 billion.

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