Yesterday, the Center for Medicare Advocacy (CMA) released their response to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) Request for Information (RFI) about the importance of access to home health aide services. We encourage everyone to take the time to read through this response as much of it is relevant to Medicare and non-Medicare providers alike (there is also a shorter executive summary here).
CMS has requested feedback specifically on the following:
- Why is the use of home health aides declining even though there's still strong need for those services?
- To what extent are people eligible for Medicare who have multiple or more severe impairments having more difficulty accessing home health care services, specifically home health aide services?
- What are notable barriers or obstacles that home health agencies (HHAs) experience in recruiting and retaining home health aides? What steps could HHAs take to improve the recruitment and retention of home health aides?
- Are HHAs paying home health aides less than equivalent positions in other care settings and if so, why?
- How effective is the coordination between Medicare and Medicaid to ensure adequate access to home health aide services?
- What are the consequences of beneficiary difficulty in accessing home health aide services?
If you are interested in submitting comments on your own, the public comment period is open until 5:00 PM ET on August 20, 2023, and can be submitted here.
NAHC is particularly interested to know if you feel there are common themes/issues with access to aide services within the Private Duty realm. Please feel free to contact me directly at (305) 849-1300 or kwheeler@nahc.org if you would prefer to share your thoughts offline. Thank you for your input!
------------------------------
Kristen Wheeler
Executive Director of Private Duty at NAHC
National Association for Home Care & Hospice
Washington DC
(305) 849-1300
------------------------------