On October 27, 2016, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee released a discussion draft of a bill that seeks to improve treatment for Medicare beneficiaries with chronic illnesses, with an emphasis on increased payment for home care and telehealth.
Senators of the bipartisan Chronic Care Working Group (CCWG) – Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), and Mark Warner (D-VA) – released a discussion draft of the Creating High-Quality Results and Outcomes Necessary to Improve Chronic Care Act of 2016 (CHRONIC Care Act). According to the Section-By-Section Summary, the discussion draft seeks to:
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Extend the Independence at Home Demonstration Program from five years to seven years, increase the number of participating beneficiaries from 10,000 to 12,000, and “allow practices up to three years to receive a shared savings payment before they are terminated from the demonstration”;
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Expand access to home dialysis therapy by increasing the number of originating sites from where a beneficiary may receive an assessment via telehealth;
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Allow individuals with end-stage renal disease to enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan;
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Expand the Medicare Advantage value-based insurance design model to allow plans “in any state to participate in the model during the testing phase to determine whether savings are achieved without negatively impacting quality”;
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Allow a Medicare Advantage plan “to offer a wider array of supplemental benefits to chronically ill enrollees”; and
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Expand the use of telehealth services for Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), for Medicate Advantage plans, and for beneficiaries with stroke.
Also on October 27, 2016, the senators submitted a letter, which details the CCWG’s efforts since the group’s inception in 2015, to the Secretary of HHS and the Acting Administrator of CMS.
