[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 114 (Thursday, August 5, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S10467]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. WELLSTONE:
  S. 1550. A bill to extend certain Medicare community nursing 
organization demonstration projects; to the Committee on Finance.


 legislation to extend certain medicare community nursing organization 
                         demonstration projects

 Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I am introducing legislation 
which will extend Medicare funding for Community Nursing Organization 
(CNO) demonstration projects within the Health Care Financing 
Administration. These CNO programs are intended to reduce the breakup 
in the delivery of health care services, to reduce the use of costly 
emergency care services, and to improve the continuity of home health 
and ambulatory care for Medicare beneficiaries. CNOs are responsible 
for providing home health care, case management, outpatient physical 
and speech therapy, ambulance services, prosthetic devices, durable 
medical equipment, and any optional HCFA-approved services appropriate 
to prevent the need to institutionalize Medicare enrollees.
  In Minnesota, the Healthy Seniors Project provides seniors with 
information and services that have provided an extra level of health 
care and peace of mind. Through various seminars, programs, and other 
informational services, these seniors have received information on 
legal and financial matters specifically as they pertain to senior 
citizens, as well as information on the services available to help them 
function and remain in their homes.
  These CNO projects are consistent with congressional efforts to 
introduce a wider range of managed care options to Medicare 
beneficiaries. Their authorization needs to be extended in order to 
ensure a fair testing of the CNO managed care concept. We need an 
extension of this demonstration project to continue to provide an 
important example of how coordinated care can provide additional 
benefits without increasing Medicare costs. In addition, we need to 
further evaluate the impact of the CNO contribution to Medicare 
patients and to assess their capacity for operating under a fixed 
budget. Finally, this extension will not increase Medicare 
expenditures. In fact, CNOs actually save Medicare dollars by providing 
better and more accessible health care in homes and community settings, 
rather than unnecessary hospitalizations and nursing home admissions.
  Mr. President, I urge my colleagues to support these important cost-
saving demonstration projects for another three years.
                                 ______