A Senate Finance Committee report that is critical of home healthcare industry Medicare billing practices continued to draw responses from the industry, as home healthcare company shares were hammered.
Val Halamandaris, president of the National Association for Home Care and Hospice, Washington, pointed to Medicare's structure for home healthcare billing as the source of the problem. “We commend the Senate Finance Committee for calling for changes to the Medicare payment model,” Halamandaris wrote. “Home healthcare has recommended that Medicare set payment rates based on the nature of the patient rather than the volume of services rendered, therapy or otherwise,” he wrote. “We have long been concerned that the current model discourages home health agencies from providing the care that was appropriate for the individual patient needs,” he wrote.
