It has been well documented how home health providers and advocacy organizations feel about the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) home health proposed payment rule for CY 2023.

What has not been, up to this point, is how Medicare beneficiaries feel about it. That changed Wednesday, as a poll conducted by Morning Consult – on behalf of the Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare (PQHH) – was released.

“These kind of reductions are not just made in a vacuum,” PQHH CEO Joanne Cunningham told Home Health Care News. “The Medicare home health program is really important to the public.”

The results of the poll, which were drawn from over 2,000 respondents in late July, included that:

– 88% of Medicare beneficiaries believe it is important for Congress to pass legislation that would prevent the CMS’ proposed cuts to Medicare home health services.

– 92% of registered voters believe it is important for the federal government to maintain Medicare coverage for at-home health care to allow seniors to recover and rehabilitate at home.

– It’s perhaps one of the only things the two parties can agree on: 94% of Democrats and 93% of Republicans expressed their support for the Medicare home health program.

– 65% of voters oppose CMS implementing a cut to Medicare home health services, while only 20% support the cut.

– 60% of voters would be less likely to support their member of Congress is they were in favor of the proposed cuts.

For context, the proposed payment rule would decrease aggregate home health payments by 4.2%, or $810 million, in 2023.

“We certainly like to take the temperature of the public and remind policymakers that there is tremendously strong support for the home health program, and that these types of cuts that are on the table will have an impact,” Cunningham said. “They’re concerning, they will diminish access and they will have a pretty immediate and far-reaching impact on home health care.”

In late July, The Preserving Access to Home Health Act was introduced in both the Senate and the House. It would keep CMS from making negative adjustments to home health payment rates in the immediate future, including in 2023.

Since 2020, the general public has also become far more aware of the health care options they do have. Specifically, at-home care has become far more popular, which health care providers across the continuum have reacted to.

“COVID has magnified some strengths and weaknesses of our health care system,” Cunningham said. “It has magnified the importance of care in the home – that is one of those lessons that we’ve learned. If there’s a way that we can continue to modernize and support and grow not just Medicare home health program, but other opportunities that allow for more care in the home, I think it’s just smart policy to do that.”