Home health agencies, hospitals and consumer groups are complaining that a new rule intended to curb unnecessary Medicare spending will make it harder for senior citizens to get home care services.
Under the requirement, which is to take effect next Friday, Medicare beneficiaries will have to see doctors 90 days before or 30 days after starting home health services in order for the home health agencies to be reimbursed. Those face-to-face visits may be a burden for some home-bound frail seniors, as well as those who live in rural areas, the industry says.
Some Medicare experts have little sympathy for industry complaints.
"Home health is a benefit that is out of control," said Dr. Robert Berenson, a health policy expert at the Urban Institute.
Medicare home health care typically consists of services such as skilled nursing, physical therapy and speech therapy. Unlike most services in Medicare, patients don't have co-payments or deductibles. The services can be prescribed for 60 days at a time, although there's no limit on the number of times they can be renewed.
Medicare home health costs doubled to $19 billion from 2002 to 2009. Cases of Medicare fraud also have been rising, and federal officials have launched a crackdown that includes prosecuting home health agencies that bill for services that weren't provided.
Under current law, doctors must prescribe home health care for patients to receive services, but the physicians don't have to see the patients to make that determination.
Medicare advisers to Congress say the regulation doesn't go far enough to reduce waste and fraud because it allows patients to start getting home health services before first seeing doctors to ensure that they need it.
