Medicare Home Health Care: Payments to Home Health Agencies Are Considerably Higher than Costs (GAO-02-663)
May, 2002 Medicare Home Health Care: Payments to Home Health Agencies Are Considerably Higher than Costs (GAO-02-663) The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 enacted major changes in Medicare's home health care payments to provides home health agencies (HHAs) with incentives to operate more efficiently. Under a prospective payment system (PPS), HHAs are paid a fixed amount, adjusted for beneficiary care needs, for providing up to 60 days of care---termed a home health episode. The Act also imposed new interim payment limits to moderate spending until the PPS could be implemented. The PPS was designed to lower . . .
