Preserve Access to Care in the Home (PATCH) Act of 1999

Summary

Preserve Access to Care in the Home (PATCH) Act of 1999 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) and the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA '97) to eliminate the scheduled automatic 15 percent reduction in payment amounts to home health agencies furnishing home health services under the Medicare program. Amends SSA title XVIII to: (1) create outlier provisions for home health services; (2) revise the definition of homebound; and (3) restructure the review process for claims submitted by home health agencies. Amends BBA '97 for the stated purpose of restoring periodic interim payments for home health agencies. Expresses the sense of the Senate that the Secretary of Health and Human Services should: (1) ensure that the prospective payment system (PPS) for home health services provides for appropriate payment of services provided to beneficiaries at rates that include incentives to provide services efficiently to all beneficiaries and do not create unintentional incentives to discriminate against beneficiaries with complex medical conditions; (2) ensure that the establishment of the case mix adjustment for such services does not penalize agencies that serve such beneficiaries, provides some predictive value, and accounts for appropriate variables, such as age and health status; (3) establish a nationally uniform process to ensure that fiscal intermediaries have the training and ability to provide timely and accurate coverage and payment information to Medicare home health agencies; (4) assess home health agency regulatory costs associated with the PPS for home health services and consider the cost impact on the agency's ability to provide such services; and (5) provide periodic updates to Congress and home health agencies on the Secretary's progress in implementing such PPS.

This text is taken from the official record. PoliticalRepo does not editorialize.

Timeline

No timeline events have been ingested for this record yet.

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

No version snapshots stored. Document URLs remain at the source.

Documents

3 official files

• Introduced in Senate (text)

  Introduced in Senate · EN · 13 July 1999

  ViewDownloadOpen at official source

• Introduced in Senate (PDF)

  Introduced in Senate · EN · 13 July 1999

  ViewDownloadOpen at official source

• Introduced in Senate

  summary · EN · 13 July 1999

  Open at official source

Sponsors

No sponsors or actors listed by the source.

Related records

No cross-record relationships stored yet.