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.)