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ATI: Medicare Advantage Plans Shrinking In-Home Support Options
McKnight’s Home Care / By Adam Healy
The number of Medicare Advantage plans offering in-home supportive services (IHSS) in 2024 shrunk to its lowest number since 2021, despite the popularity of these supplemental benefits, according to healthcare research firm ATI Advisory.
“In-home support services are down pretty significantly,” Bill Winfrey, a director at research firm ATI Advisory’s Medicare innovation team, told McKnight’s Home Care Daily Pulse. “It dropped down between seven and eight percentage points from last year to this year. So it’s a pretty significant drop in one particular benefit that previously had been very popular and offered pretty commonly across plans.”
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released its most recent batch of supplemental benefit data on Oct. 2, according to ATI Advisory. The number of MA plans offering IHSS in 2024 has decreased to 721, down from the record high of 1,091 in the previous year.
A declining number of MA plans offering IHSS doesn’t necessarily mean that 2023 was a high-water mark, he said. MA plans are constantly experimenting with their “menu” of supplemental benefits, resulting in fluctuations each year. Other supplemental benefits have been on the rise. The number of plans offering caregiver supports grew from 293 to 350 going into next year, and home-based palliative care has steadily increased from 61 plans in 2020 to 195 plans in 2024.
The reasons why IHSS offerings shrunk in 2024 could be varied and numerous, Winfrey noted, but there is no definitive cause for the decline. One possible explanation is that IHSS is costly, and it can present a tougher logistical puzzle than other benefits like transportation or meal delivery. Lacking data as to the quality and efficacy of IHSS providers can also make it a tougher sell.
Winfrey noted the benefit is relatively expensive to offer and challenging to deliver. “If you’re thinking from the plan perspective and you’re trying to figure out which benefits to offer, and you have a reasonably expensive, relatively complex benefit to offer, that introduces some questions on behalf of the plan in terms of whether that might be a benefit they want to offer,” he said.
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Medicare Premiums Set to Rise in 2024
Axios / By Maya Goldman
Monthly Medicare premiums covering physician and outpatient care will rise almost 6% next year as part of a series of hikes the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced Thursday.
The big picture: Though inflation pressures are receding, projected growth in health care spending is continuing to drive up the cost of care. A plan to repay providers for underpayments they received from a federal drug discount program is another factor, CMS said.
By the numbers: The standard monthly premium for traditional Medicare Part B coverage, which encompasses physician care, outpatient services and medical equipment, will be $174.70 in 2024, up from $164.90 this year.
- Medicare enrollees may see higher premiums based on their income.
- The annual deductible for all Part B enrollees will be $240, an increase of $14 from this year's $226.
- The deductible for Medicare Part A, which covers inpatient hospital care, nursing home stays and other services, will be $1,632 next year — a $32, or 2%, increase from this year.
Context: Medicare premiums haven't followed a standard trend line in recent years.
- In 2022, Medicare Part B premiums rose 15%, largely due to the hefty anticipated price tag for Aduhelm, the controversial Alzheimer's treatment.
- But Medicare's subsequent decision to limit coverage of the drug allowed premiums to come down about 3% for 2023.
Of note: Consumers also have the option to enroll in private Medicare Advantage plans. The average MA monthly plan premium next year will be $17.86, a 64-cent increase from this year's average.
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Please Take this Hospice Audit Survey
- GO HERE to take the survey
- All responses are confidential, no provider info will be shared
- Please respond by October 31, 2023
The National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) is partnering with LeadingAge, NHPCO, and NPHI to collect information on various audits of hospice claims to share with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). We sent a letter to CMS outlining all our concerns about the hospice audit process. (Read that letter here.) In a follow up meeting with CMS, there was a mutual desire to focus on correcting issues related to the audits and this information will be used for that purpose only. We are asking for your help to collect examples of these issues – with no protected health information – particularly of technical denials. We are keeping all responses confidential – no provider information will be shared. |
Expanded Home Health Value-Based Purchasing Model: Preparing for CYs 2024 & 2025 Webinar
Thursday, November 9 from 12–1:00 pm MT
Register for this webinar.
CMS will review the CY 2024 Home Health Prospective Payment System final rule and how it applies to the Expanded Home Health Value-Based Purchasing Model. |
Subcommittee on Supporting Access to Long-Term Services and Supports
WHAT: A subcommittee hearing to discuss how proposed regulations on the health care work force could affect access to care.
DATE: Wednesday, October 25, 2023
TIME: 12:00 PM MT
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Subcommittee on Health Chair Brett Guthrie (R-KY) announced a subcommittee hearing titled "Supporting Access to Long-Term Services and Supports: An Examination of the Impacts of Proposed Regulations on Workforce and Access to Care.”
“Americans receiving long-term services and support, including seniors and people with disabilities, need access to quality care. Yet, the Biden administration has prioritized new rules with a one-size-fits all approach. We've heard concerns in our communities that the administration's recently proposed nursing home ratio rule and so-called access rule will force facilities to close their doors and jeopardize patient care. This hearing will give members an opportunity to hear from expert witnesses to better understand the unique challenges that our nation’s most vulnerable are facing,” said Chairs Rodgers and Guthrie.
The hearing will be open to the public and press and will be live streamed online at https://energycommerce.house.gov/
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