[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 74 (Wednesday, June 10, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1096]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


              THE MEDICARE HOME HEALTH EQUITY ACT OF 1998

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. MICHAEL PAPPAS

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 10, 1998

  Mr. PAPPAS. Mr. Speaker, I come here today to speak about a bill I 
have introduced to restore equity to the home health care industry. 
Congressmen Coyne, Saxton, Smith of New Jersey and I have introduced 
H.R. 3567, ``The Medicare Home Health Equity Act of 1998'' to address 
what we feel are major problems with the implementation of HCFA of the 
Balanced Budget Act of 1997.
  Last year's Balanced Budget Agreement brought much needed common 
sense to government spending. As part of the Balanced Budget, changes 
were made to make payment for home health care more efficient. A 
Prospective Payment Schedule for home health services was created but 
is not ready yet. HCFA has created the IPS as a transitional approach. 
However, the IPS is a ``one size fits all'' plan that continues the 
practice of rewarding inefficient home health services and punishing 
efficiency. Agencies which had already implemented efficiency measures 
to save Medicare money have been penalized for this thrift, while those 
that have not are rewarded. I do not believe this was the intent of 
Congress.
  H.R. 3567 will level the playing field by basing the per patient cost 
limit of the IPS on a blend of national and regional data rather than 
on individual agency data. It already has 69 bi-partisan co-sponsors 
and has the support of numerous home health care organizations. 
Congress must act now to avoid further pain to the home health care 
communities. Moreover, according to Price Warehouse, H.R. 3567 is 
budget neutral and I hope the CBO will finish a scoring of this bill 
shortly.
  I hope my colleagues will seriously consider this bill and join me in 
the effort to restore equity to home health care agencies.

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