Collins introduces home health care accessibility for Medicare patients bill

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, chairwoman of the Senate Aging Committee, has teamed with U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., to introduce the Home Health Care Planning Improvement Act. The law would improve the access Medicare beneficiaries have to home health care by allowing physician assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists and certified nurse midwives to order home health services, all of which are playing increasingly important roles in the delivery of health care, particularly in rural and underserved areas of the country, according to a press release from Collins’ office.

“Home health care is a crucial component to quality health care and should be more accessible to Medicare patients,” Collins said in the release. “I have learned of far too many cases of seniors who experienced unnecessary delays in accessing home health care. To avoid these needless delays, it is common sense that other medical professionals who are familiar with a patient’s case should be able to order these services.”

Under current law, only physicians are allowed to certify or initiate home health care for Medicare patients, even though they may not be as familiar with the patient’s case as the non-physician provider, the release said. In some cases, the certifying physician may not even have a relationship with the patient and must rely on the recommendation of the nurse practitioner, physician assistant, clinical nurse specialist, or certified nurse midwife to order the medically necessary home health care. In too many cases, these requirements create obstacles, delays and unnecessary paperwork to the process before home health care can be provided.

The proposed legislation removes delays in getting Medicare patients the home health care they need simply because a physician is not available to sign the form required by law, the release said.

The Collins-Cardin legislation is supported by the National Association for Home Care and Hospice, the American Nurses Association, the American Academy of Physician Assistants, the American College of Nurse Practitioners, the American College of Nurse Midwives, the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, and the Visiting Nurse Associations of America, according to Collins’ office.