Transitioning from hospital to home is a challenging process. Home healthcare, which includes care delivered by nurses, physical and occupational therapists, social workers, and home health aides, enables Medicare’s older patient population and the disabled community to return home to rehabilitate after leaving the hospital. Despite the immense value home health offers to older Americans, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed significant cuts to home health that threaten the stability of the sector for the third straight year.
In the newly released Home Health Prospective Payment System Proposed Rule for Calendar Year 2025, CMS has proposed a permanent adjustment of -4.067% to the 2025 home health base payment rate. And while CMS chose not to implement the temporary “clawback” cuts for 2025, additional cuts of $4.5 billion to home health loom in the future.
To learn more about the details of these cuts, click here.
These annual cuts to home health have diminished the home health community’s ability to maintain an adequate workforce to meet patient need, to transfer patients home following hospitalization, and to ensure home health services are accessible to Medicare beneficiaries across the country.
It doesn’t have to be this way. The Medicare home healthcare program offers healthcare that is specifically designed to meet the needs of someone requiring clinically advanced services. With access to home health, beneficiaries receive clinically advanced, patient preferred care in the home.
Now more than ever, we need help from Congress to protect older Americans’ access to home health. Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Susan Collins (R-ME) and Representatives Terri Sewell (AL-7) and Adrian Smith (NE-3) have introduced the Preserving Access to Home Health Act (S. 2137/H.R. 5159) to prevent the CMS from implementing any further cuts to home health.
Specifically, the bill is designed to address deep cuts made to home health by CMS that began this year and will continue until at least 2028. The legislation:
- Restricts CMS from making any additional cuts to home health.
- Requires MedPAC, which advises Congress on payment policy, to report to Congress the full analysis of the financial stability of the home health sector, including not just margins in the traditional Medicare program, but also margins on Medicaid and Medicare Advantage. This will ensure that the entire financial health of the home healthcare system is understood by policymakers.
The Partnership looks forward to working with leaders in Congress to block cuts to home health and stabilize the home health payment system to protect patient access.