Scott introduces home health care bill to Senate

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Hospitals across the country were full to the gills in November 2020, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services were forced to explore new options. 

The centers launched a new waiver program, called Acute Hospital Care at Home, to allow Medicare beneficiaries to receive coverage for hospital-level health care from within the safety of the home. 

As it stands, the end of the federal COVID-19 Public Health Emergency is also scheduled to bring the Acute Hospital Care at Home Program to an end as well, according to a news release. 

Earlier this month, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and Tom Carper, D-Del., introduced the Hospital Inpatient Services Modernization Act to the senate floor to extend the program’s coverage. 

If the bill is passed, Medicare and Medicaid patients will have access to the waiver program for two years beyond the duration of the federal public health emergency deadline, according to the release. Also, within one year of enactment, the bill requires the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to issue health and safety regulations for covered Hospital at Home Programs and the Department of Health and Human Services to submit a congressional report on the efficacy of the waiver program and legislative recommendations. 

The senators argue the Acute Hospital Care at Home bill helps cut costs and enhance the quality of living for patients. 

“The Acute Hospital Care at Home program has revolutionized health care for many Americans by improving care while decreasing health risks associated with hospital stays,” Scott said in the release. “I’m proud to extend this program that will ease pressure on our health care system and allow thousands of vulnerable Americans to continue receiving quality care from the safety of their own home.” 

According to the release, the programs has support from dozens of health care organizations including the Johns Hopkins Health System, Medical University of South Carolina, the American Hospital Association and the America’s Physician Groups and the Mayo Clinic, to name a few. 

“For the past two years, hospitals have endured the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic — and without missing a beat — nurses, doctors and other medical professionals have continued to 

provide quality care to individuals affected by the virus and other personal medical conditions,” Carper said in the release. “Overrun with patients infected by the virus, hospitals like ChristianaCare in Delaware had to quickly adapt in order to treat patients with other medical needs — such as the creation of innovative programs to provide hospital-level care to patients in their homes. I’m proud to introduce this bill with my friend Sen. Scott that will modernize our health care system and ensure that investments in programs to bring hospital care to patients at home can continue to go on.” 

Reps. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., and Dr. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, also introduced companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives.