Home Health Agencies Warn of Fallout If Medicare Cuts Payments

More than half of the nation’s nearly 12,000 home health agencies would operate at a deficit if the Biden administration implements a proposed—and permanent—7.7% cut of $1.33 billion in Medicare reimbursements next year, a top industry official says.

And if the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services also tries next year to recover all of $2 billion in apparent overpayments made to home health agencies in 2020 and 2021, “it would nearly double the effect” of the proposed cut to about 15%, said William Dombi, president of the National Association for Home Care & Hospice.