When given choice, seniors overwhelmingly choose home health care
Imagine you’re in the hospital waiting to be discharged. You’ve come a long way since you were admitted for a serious injury like a broken hip or an illness such as pneumonia, but you still have a long road to recovery ahead.
Where do you go now?
For many seniors, the answer is home. Research shows that an overwhelming number of Medicare beneficiaries prefer to recover in an environment that is safe, comfortable, and familiar. Even before the COVID-19 emergency ravaged nursing homes and overwhelmed hospitals, more and more seniors favored having the option of high-quality home health care. As demand grows in the future, buoyed by a surge of baby boomers entering the Medicare program, Maryland lawmakers are leading the way to modernize access to home health care.
While some seniors may opt to receive post-hospital care in a skilled nursing facility, data shows an overwhelming majority of Medicare beneficiaries prefer to receive nursing home level of care in the comfort of home. From the Eastern Shore to Appalachia, nearly 70,000 Marylanders on Medicare already receive advanced clinical services at home to treat acute illness, chronic conditions, and permanent disabilities. When older Americans choose to receive home health care, skilled clinicians regularly visit a patient’s house to provide many of the same services patients would otherwise receive in a congregate care setting — the only difference is patients are able to remain close to loved ones in a place that is already familiar to them.
Beyond the comfort and convenience, home health care has other benefits as well. Amid another wave of COVID-19 infections, this time driven by the highly contagious delta variant, many seniors are understandably concerned about protecting themselves from the disease. With roughly 80% of coronavirus deaths occurring among patients over the age of 65, including a high number of patients in nursing homes, seniors have been looking to home health care to help reduce their potential for exposure. Moreover, home health care can help save seniors — and taxpayers — money. Estimates suggest expanded access to home health care could help save the Medicare program an estimated $144 million to $247 million per year, while helping seniors avoid the serious out-of-pocket expenses associated with care in a nursing home setting.
Across the country, an estimated 3.5 million Medicare beneficiaries already receive home health care annually — a number that is expected to grow in the future. Given the tremendous benefits of such care, it will be critical to modernize the program so that it can better meet the needs of America’s “silver tsunami.”
Fortunately, Maryland’s own U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin recently co-sponsored a bipartisan bill in Congress that would do just that. The Choose Home Care Act of 2021 would enable certain seniors to receive extended care services through an add-on to the existing Medicare Home Health benefit for 30 days after being discharged from a hospital. If passed, the bill would give eligible Medicare patients the option to receive additional services — such as primary care, skilled nursing services, and therapy — at home, empowering beneficiaries to stay out of institutional settings if that is what they prefer. The new Choose Home option would also cover personal care such as meal assistance, nonemergency transportation, home adaptations and remote patient monitoring. Further, the bill calls for family caregiver support through respite care, education, and training.
With the COVID-19 pandemic highlighting just how important it is for many seniors to be treated at home, it is vital to expand home health care options in the years to come. I salute Sen. Cardin for his forward-thinking leadership and urge others in Congress to support the Choose Home Care Act.