The wait was long but non medical (non skilled) in home care services that compensate for a client’s physical impairment can now be paid as a supplemental benefit via Medicare Advantage. That’s according to a new rule by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services set to take effect in 2019. This piece by homehealthcarenews.com outlines what the new rule means for providers and consumers. Emphasis added.
Non-skilled in-home care services will be allowed as a supplemental benefit for Medicare Advantage (MA) plans in 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced in a final rule issued Monday.
The benefit marks the first time CMS has allowed supplemental benefits that include daily maintenance in Medicare Advantage.
“CMS is expanding the definition of ‘primarily health related,” the agency stated in its announcement. “Under the new definition, the agency will allow supplemental benefits if they compensate for physical impairments, diminish the impact of injuries or health conditions, and/or reduce avoidable emergency room utilization.”
The rule was originally proposed in February and was met with enthusiasm from the home health and private duty home care industries. Home health care providers have already made great strides as partners in MA contracts, and adding non-skilled services opens the door to the growing MA population even further.
In 2015, 35% of Medicare beneficiaries were participants in MA, according to CMS data. And that figure is expected to grow quickly over the next several years.
Home care providers are not the only ones welcoming this change, as many also believe MA payors are ready and willing to pay for non-skilled in-home care services.
“The Medicare Advantage plans have a very different payment environment [than fee-for-service],” Tracy Moorehead, CEO of industry group ElevatingHome, told Home Health Care News at the association’s National Leadership Conference in March. “They have greater flexibilities than the fee-for-service providers do. They don’t have a homebound requriement in many cases. So they are tasked with full capitation, where they have an amount they are provided [with] to care for a patient and they will do whatever they need to make sure that patient doesn’t cost them more money than necessary. And if that [includes] private duty services, then I’m sure a plan is more than ready to pay for that.”
In fact, insurers and payors have been positioning themselves to better align with post-acute care services for years. As the focus also shifts toward the high-cost, high-needs dual-eligible patient populations of people who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid, that has provided additional incentive to cover personal care services as well…
Access the full rate announcement and call letter here.
Thumbnail courtesy of homehealthcarenews.com
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