The National Home Infusion Association applauded Rep. Eliot
Engel, D-N.Y., last week for his support of health care legislation
that would close the Medicare home infusion benefit gap.
At a June 24 House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on health care reform, Engel asked HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for her support in driving the “Medicare Home Infusion Therapy Coverage Act of 2009” (H.R. 574)--and he got it, according to a statement from the NHIA.
The legislation would close a gap under which the medications used in home infusions are covered, but not the services, supplies or equipment needed to deliver the therapy. Engel and Rep. Timothy Murphy, R-Pa., reintroduced the bill in January, and companion legislation (S. 254) was introduced in the Senate by Sens. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine.
At the hearing, Engel told the House committee the legislation “addresses an anomaly in the Medicare program that forces patients into hospitals and nursing homes to receive their multi-week infusion therapy when the same care could be delivered safely in the patient’s home. For decades, private health insurance has covered home infusion therapy. It is used extensively by Medicare Advantage plans. Medicaid programs cover it. But Medicare fee-for-service stands alone in the failure to cover the services, equipment and supplies needed for home infusion therapy.”
Engel got a commitment from Sebelius to work with Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on the legislation, the NHIA said.
According to NHIA President Russell Bodoff, “If health care reform is to be successful, our country can no longer support the Medicare practice of utilizing limited health care dollars to keep patients in hospitals and nursing homes when it is not medically needed and when it is contrary to the physician’s advice and patient’s preference.”
For the text of the bill, go to thomas.loc.gov and type H.R. 574 in the search bar.
