On a federal level, Congress needs to give serious consideration to reversing those parts of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 that have led to such a sharp reduction in Medicare reimbursements.
The cuts are simply crippling hospitals, nursing homes and our home health agencies.
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During a panel discussion at Butler Hospital last week – sponsored by Care New England Home Health and Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy (D-RI) – officials said the home-health industry is buckling under the weight of Medicare reimbursement cuts, a severe staffing shortfall and tedious federal regulations.
The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 reduced Medicare reimbursements for home health care by $69 billion nationally – more than four times greater than Congress initially intended, according to the National Association for Home Care.
Another round of cuts to home-health reimbursement is planned next year – to be implemented by October 2002. We hope that Kennedy, who is co-sponsoring legislation that would eliminate the additional 15 percent cut in Medicare payments to home-health facilities, is successful in that effort.
Federal cuts have taken a devastating toll on our health care industry. The cuts are now reaching the front lines and results are sad.
Consider these comments from Roberta Hawkins, executive director of The Alliance for Better Long Term Care, the subject of our Page 4 interview in this issue: “Well, you have a lot of people leaving the job, not because they don’t love being a caregiver. It’s because they’re not doing the hands-on care as much anymore because they’re doing paperwork. They don’t have enough staff to follow their direction. So their license is hanging out there on the edge, because if it doesn’t get done, the nurse is held responsible. I would not want to be held responsible for a skeleton crew, when you know it’s impossible for them to carry through what needs to get done.”
