AARP Backs Medicare Transitional Care Benefit

On Wednesday, AARP threw its weight behind the bipartisan “Medicare
Transitional Care Act,” introduced by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.,
and Susan Collins, R-Maine. The legislation would create a new
Medicare benefit to coordinate care during a person’s transition
from a hospital to their home or other care settings. Such a
benefit could could help save some of the estimated $17 billion
Medicare spends each year on preventable hospital readmissions,
AARP said.

“It’s unacceptable that 20 percent of people in Medicare who
visit the hospital will return within a month, often because they
aren’t getting the follow-up care they need,” said AARP Executive
Vice President Nancy LeaMond. ”We’re sending home too many
people with a handful of prescriptions and no
support. Something as simple as help to set up a medication
schedule could be the difference between getting healthy or winding
up back in a hospital bed.”

Reps. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., and Charles Boustany, R-La., have
introduced a companion bill in the House.

Earlier this month, AARP endorsed the “Empowered at Home Act,”
which would provide incentives for states to expand access to home
and community-based services. (See AARP Endorses
‘Empowered at Home Act’, June 8.)