OAHC Position Paper

2022 OAHC State and Federal Positions

Over the course of the pandemic, we have seen more clearly than ever before the importance of access to home health care. COVID-19 created circumstances that required those who could stay home to stay home. This was particularly true with our seniors who were more at risk for complications from the virus. Projections suggest 75% of Americans over 65 manage multiple chronic health conditions. It is imperative that our seniors have access to home health care so they can manage these conditions and any other issues that require them to access health care. We need to ensure the health care delivery model continues to utilize lessons learned from the pandemic including prioritizing the use of home based care.

Home health care brings proven cost savings to health care, promotes better patient outcomes, provides access to the latest therapies and medical technology, and is the patient preferred setting for medical care, especially on the heels of the pandemic. The Oregon Legislature and Congress should protect and expand access to home health care, eliminate barriers to its provision, and work to expand its use as an effective solution to rising health care costs and managing patient health.

The Oregon Association for Home Care (OAHC), in our effort to preserve access and quality of care in the delivery of home care, has identified the following State and Federal priorities for 2022 and beyond.

State Priorities

Protect Medicaid funding to ensure Oregonians have access to home health care to stay out of hospitals and nursing homes. Ensure biennial rates are established as previously set by the legislature.
Continue to stress the importance of in-home care, home health and hospice providers as frontline providers who filled necessary roles in the pandemic to provide services to Oregonians in their homes, including those who live in long-term care facilities.
Promote the value of in-home care, home health, and hospice as recognized by consumers and policy makers during the pandemic.
Continue to ensure Oregonians have access to palliative care in the continuum of care
Ensure licensing fees are fair and licensing agencies are using those fees to provide adequate levels of service for agencies across the home care spectrum
Advocate for fair and reasonable employment standards that do not open providers up to additional liability exposure. Monitor and engage on burdensome employment requirements and proposals that increase costs for agencies.
Advocate for responsible state regulations that do not add barriers to access to care commensurate with issued federal guidelines and limit additional state requirements for home health providers
Continue to advocate for telehealth for managing home health patients
Support legislation and regulations that make in-home care, home health and hospice accessible and streamlined for patients and their families, particularly those in rural communities with less access to traditional health care service models
Engage on rulemaking for in home care registry to ensure it is not burdensome for providers
Engage on healthcare workforce initiatives to ensure providers in the home care spectrum have access to workers trained to deliver healthcare needs in the home
Address concerns about implementation of electronic visit verification for home health providers

Federal Priorities

Avoid Medicare Payment Cuts: Ensure that Medicare Home Health Payment Model revisions provide fair and reasonable reimbursement to maintain access to care
Extend the Medicare 2% Sequestration Moratorium: End application of Medicare Sequestration
Enact Innovations in Medicare Home Care Services: Create enhanced home health benefit as alternative to the skilled nursing facility benefit
Improve Home Health Services in Medicare Advantage: Ensure adequate reimbursement from Medicare Advantage Plans for home health services
Expand Medicare Support for Telehealth in Payments and the F2F Requirements: Provide reimbursement for telehealth services in the home health benefit
Restore a Medicare Rural Add-On: Make permanent the add-on for services to rural patients and ensure care access for rural and underserved patients
Ensure Hospice Oversight Policies are Fair, Targeted, Data-Driven, Transparent and Minimize the Burden on High-Quality Hospice Providers: Enact hospice-specific compliance measures
Avoid Harmful Hospice Payment Cuts: Rates, MedPac Cap Proposal: Reject efforts to reduce the hospice aggregate cap, oversee and influence the impact of hospice payment reform, and ensure the full market basket update for the Medicare hospice benefit.
Establish a Community-Based Palliative Care Demonstration: Establish new home- and community-based palliative care delivery and payment models to address the needs of seriously ill Medicare and Medicaid patients
Extend and Cement COVID-19-Related Telehealth Flexibilities for Hospice: Enable effective use of tele-homecare and emerging technologies under Medicare and Medicaid and revise requirements for hospice face-to-face encounters.
Ensure High-Quality Hospice and Palliative Care Delivery in Medicare Advantage: Safeguard the integrity of the hospice benefit as part of efforts to test coverage of hospice under the Medicare advantage benefit.

OAHC Position Paper

Archive

Upcoming Events

Career Center