The Department of Health and Human Services made two announcements on Thursday, May 1st, regarding home care for chronically ill patients. The first one stated that the Affordable Care Act has initiatives designed to help chronically ill patients stay in their own homes and receive care there. The Community First Choice program will raises the Medicaid funding match for enrollees who would need to be in a nursing home if they couldn't afford adequate home care.
The HHS fact sheet says the intention is to help patients with "activities of daily living and health-related tasks."
According to MedPage Today, states must meet certain requirements, such as "designing the program benefits with input from stakeholders; developing a quality assurance process; and collecting data on the program for HHS oversight."
The second HHS announcement was that beginning on June 1st, 16 organizations are going to participate in a 3-year Medicare demonstration project called "Independence at Home." The goal is to test whether giving Medicare beneficiaries primary care at home will improve quality and reduce costs.
