Posted on Monday, April 15, 2019 12:14 PM
The Removing Barriers to Person-and-Family-Centered Care Act was introduced this week in the Senate. This bill would support state and local efforts to redesign health care for individuals with advanced illnesses. In addition, it would expand comprehensive care planning services, and work with community-based groups to fill gaps in services and supports for patients and their caregivers. The bill could have important consequences for both home health and hospice, including allowing non-physician practitioners to certify eligibility for home health services.
The bill would instruct CMS to award cooperative agreements to eligible groups through which waivers for payment rules and regulations would be available in support of these care redesign plans. These new flexibilities and up to $5 million per agreement to cover upfront personnel, infrastructure, and training, would, the sponsors believe, help these groups provide quality person-and-family-centered care to patients with advanced illness.
The regulatory waiver options are:
- Allow Medicare beneficiaries to receive hospice care and curative care at the same time
- Allow nurse practitioners, physician assistants and clinical nurse specialists to certify eligibility for home health services and establish home health care plans
- Allow patients to receive home health services even if they are not homebound
Source: NAHC
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