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[STK]
[IN] HEA
[SU] SVY WOM
TO HEALTH, MEDICAL, AND NATIONAL EDITORS:
Medicare Home Health Beneficiary Population is Older, Poorer, Sicker
and More Likely to be Women and Minorities than All Other Medicare
Beneficiaries
WASHINGTON, March 3, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- New analyses
completed by Avalere Health and Dobson DaVanzo & Associates released
today by the Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare find that the
majority of Medicare home health beneficiaries and caregivers, both
skilled and informal, are women and that Medicare home health
beneficiaries are among the most vulnerable of all Medicare
beneficiaries.
The newly-released data show more than 60 percent of Medicare home
health beneficiaries are women. An estimated 90 percent of registered
nurses, occupational therapists, and home health aides - professionals
that are commonly employed by home health agencies - are women, as
well. Avalere Health analysis also reveals that the Medicare
beneficiaries who receive home health services are older, poorer,
sicker and more likely to be minorities than the rest of the Medicare
beneficiary population.
"These data underscore that the deep cut to Medicare home health
resulting from the Affordable Care Act poses a disproportionate risk
to women and vulnerable seniors," stated Eric Berger, CEO of the
Partnership. "According to Administration estimates, 'approximately
40 percent' of all home health agencies will experience net losses as
a result of the Obamacare home health cut. As demonstrated by these
data, the cut's impact will be most felt by the women - who primarily
staff home health agencies - and the vulnerable, female and minority
patients they serve."
The Medicare home health benefit on which 3.5 million seniors depend
is being subjected to a 14 percent cut in funding, due to the
imposition of a four-year, 3.5 percent per year rebasing adjustment
implemented by the Obama Administration on January 1 using
discretionary authority granted by the Affordable Care Act. According
to the Administration, the Obamacare cut will cause "approximately 40
percent" of all home health providers to operate at a loss by 2017.
The cut was opposed by seniors advocates, hospitals, home health and
other providers, and small business experts due to the threat it poses
to low-cost, high quality home healthcare.
The data released today demonstrates that Medicare home health
beneficiaries are older, sicker, poorer, are more likely to be female,
are more likely to be members of ethnic or racial minority
populations, and have greater functional limitations, disabling
conditions, and greater difficulty completing routine tasks than all
other beneficiaries in the Medicare program. A summary of the
findings is below:
Avalere Home Health Beneficiary Study: Key Findings Medicare Home Health Beneficiaries All Other Medicare Beneficiaries
Women 60.07% 53.9%
Beneficiaries aged 85+ 24.4% 12.1%
Beneficiaries with 4+ chronic conditions 74.7% 48.5%
Beneficiaries needing assistance with 2+ Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) 23.5% 7.6%
Beneficiaries at or below 200% of Federal Poverty Level (FPL) 66.2% 47.9%
Beneficiaries from ethnic or racial minority population 19.3% 14.9%
Dual-eligible Medicare-Medicaid beneficiaries 26.7% 17.7%
"Without continued access to high-quality, clinically-effective care
provided in the Medicare program's lowest-cost setting - the home -
many of these vulnerable patients will have no other choice but to
obtain the care they need in more expensive institutional care
settings. As a result, we call on lawmakers to protect these
vulnerable patients from the further harm that would result from any
additional cuts to the Medicare home health benefit and, instead, join
our community in urging the Administration to moderate the deep ACA
cut recently imposed on these seniors," added Berger.
Additionally, as this newly imposed cut will drive 40 percent of home
health providers to net losses in the next four years, many agencies
will be forced to close their doors or make significant staffing
reductions, putting at risk an estimated 498,159 jobs. Due to the
make-up of the workforce, the large majority of these job losses will
affect women.
In conducting this analysis, Avalere Health used the 2011 Medicare
Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) Access to Care File, a national
representative survey of the Medicare population, as well as data from
the Bureau of Labor Statistics and HRSA.
To access the Avalere Health Medicare home health beneficiary
analysis, click here. To download the beneficiary and workforce
analysis, click here.
The Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare was established to assist
government officials in ensuring access to skilled home healthcare
services for seniors and disabled Americans. Representing community-
and hospital-based home healthcare agencies across the United States,
the Partnership is dedicated to developing innovative reforms to
improve the quality, efficiency and integrity of home healthcare. To
learn more, visit www.homehealth4america.org . To join the home
healthcare policy conversation, connect with us on Facebook, Twitter
and our blog .
SOURCE Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare
-0- 03/03/2014
/CONTACT: Emily White, 703-548-0019
/Web Site: http://www.homehealth4america.org
CO: Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare
ST: District of Columbia
IN: HEA
SU: SVY WOM
PRN
-- DC75478 --
0000 03/03/2014 17:05:00 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com
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