New York Delegation Urges Action on Medicare Home Health Payments

WASHINGTON—Several New York government officials sent a letter to leadership at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) urging them to stabilize Medicare home health payment rates before issuing next year’s Home Health Prospective Payment System proposed rule.

The letter addressed to CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz and OMB Director Russel Vought cites what it calls a severe home health crisis happening in the state of New York. Since 2018, Medicare home health use in the state has dropped by an estimated 26%, leaving more than 262,000 Medicare enrollees without needed care. In 2024, 40% of patients referred to home health after hospitalization never received services, with rates reaching two-thirds or more in many parts of the state. New York has lost 29 home health agencies since 2018, including nine in 2024 and 2025 alone.

“Home health care is a lifeline for seniors, people with disabilities and the families who care for them,” said U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres, who led the effort. “New York is in the middle of a home health access crisis, and the Bronx cannot afford another round of cuts. I am proud to lead a bicameral coalition of New York members in urging the administration to deliver a rule that protects access and keeps care in the home for the New Yorkers who depend on it.”

The delegation is calling on CMS and OMB to ensure payment rates reflect current labor costs and patient acuity, eliminate the $4.76 billion in future cuts currently designated as “temporary adjustments,” and protect access in high-need urban, suburban and rural communities across New York.

“Last year, CMS cut home health payments by 1.3% (2.4% payment increase offset by 3.7% in reductions), the latest installment in years of cuts and inadequate payment updates that have decimated the home health care system,” the letter reads. “Since 2015, Medicare home health payment updates have increased only about 5.6%, compared with 36.4% for skilled nursing facilities and 34.1% for inpatient rehabilitation facilities. Meanwhile, home health agencies face rising labor costs, higher patient acuity, and growing demand from hospitals and families seeking care at home. This is the primary reason agencies have closed and access has collapsed.”

The letter urges CMS and OMB to use the CY 2027 rulemaking process to stabilize the Medicare home health benefit by:

• Ensuring payment rates reflect current labor costs, patient acuity, and access challenges, including payment updates that correct for years of cuts and underfunding
• Eliminating the $4.76 billion in future cuts called “temporary adjustments”
• Protecting access in high-need urban, suburban, and rural communities across New York.

“Home health care is not optional,” the letter said. “It is essential to safe hospital discharge, aging in place, caregiver support, and avoiding higher-cost institutional care. Further cuts will deepen disparities, worsen hospital overcrowding, and leave more seniors without the care they need.”

Torres was joined by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Reps. Yvette Clarke, Adriano Espaillat, Laura Gillen, Dan Goldman, Timothy Kennedy, George Latimer, John Mannion, Gregory Meeks, Grace Meng, Joseph Morelle, Jerrold Nadler, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Josh Riley, Patrick Ryan, Thomas Suozzi, Paul Tonko and Nydia Velázquez.