Home Infusion Stakeholders to be Helped by Newly Introduced Congressional Legislation
According to a press release by Senator Warner (D-VA), a newly introduced “bipartisan bill in the U.S. Senate proposes to ensure Medicare patients maintain access to home infusion therapies that require the use of an infusion pump. The Preserving Patient Access to Home Infusion Act — introduced by Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) — would ensure patients with serious viral and fungal infections, heart failure, immune diseases, cancer, and other conditions can receive the intravenous (IV) medications they need while at home.”
The Preserving Patient Access to Home Infusion Act can be viewed here.
How did this legislation come to be?
“Congress included provisions in the 21st Century Cures Act and the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 to create a professional services benefit for Medicare Part B home infusion drugs. The intent in establishing this benefit was to maintain patient access to home infusion by covering professional services including assessments, education on administration and access device care, monitoring and remote monitoring, coordination with the patient, caregivers and other health care providers, and nursing visits.
Despite Congress’ intent — as detailed in multiple letters to the agency — the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) improperly implemented the benefit by requiring a nurse to be physically present in the patient’s home in order for providers to be reimbursed. As a practical matter, the current home infusion therapy benefit only acknowledges face-to-face visits from a nurse and fails to account for the extensive clinical and administrative services that are provided remotely by home infusion clinicians. As a result, provider participation in Medicare’s home infusion benefit has dropped sharply and beneficiaries have experienced reduced access to home infusion over the last several years.
The Preserving Patient Access to Home Infusion Act provides technical clarifications that will remove the physical presence requirement, ensuring payment regardless of whether a health care professional is present in the patient’s home. The legislation also acknowledges the full scope of professional services provided in home infusion — including essential pharmacist services — into the reimbursement structure.”
Lanton Law is a national boutique law and lobbying firm that focuses on healthcare/life sciences and technology. We have lobbied for and consult home infusion stakeholders.
If you are either thinking about getting into or are a current home infusion stakeholder and are unsure how your business model fares, contact Lanton Law so that we can go over your business model, assess potential risks and help you plan for both pending legislative and regulatory actions.