Senator Carper Highlights Continued Need for Access to Home Health Care

Today, at the Senate Finance Committee’s Subcommittee on Health Care hearing “Aging in Place: The Vital Role of Home Health in Access to Care,” Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.) highlighted the importance of meeting people where they are to address their health care needs. The Medicare Hospital at Home program was first widely adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic and in 2022, Senator Carper and Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) introduced the Hospital Inpatient Services Modernization Act to ensure continued access to this service. The legislation was signed into law by President Biden in the same year and the program has continued to be popular for patients across Delaware and the country.

During the hearing, Senator Carper emphasized the success of the Hospital at Home program including how it has improved patient outcomes and patient satisfaction, and lowered costs for Medicare beneficiaries across the country:

“One program […] that was established to meet the demand [of the COVID-19 pandemic] was the Acute Hospital Care at Home Waiver Program, known as ‘Hospital at Home’ because it allows Medicare beneficiaries to receive hospital-level health care services in their home. Since its enactment, hospitals and health systems across […] 34 states, including my own home state of Delaware, have utilized the Hospital at Home program to provide safe, high quality, hospital-level services in the homes of patients. The Hospital at Home program has been a true success story. It has delivered positive outcomes, it has delivered a higher reported patient satisfaction, and I understand it has also delivered potential cost savings. Where I come from, that’s a win-win-win situation.”

Senator Carper also emphasized the need to extend the duration of the Hospital at Home program for Medicare recipients:

“To ensure that patients and their providers would have access to the Hospital at Home program for two years beyond the duration of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency, last Congress Senator Tim Scott, a member of this Committee, and I introduced the Hospital Inpatient Service Modernization Act. I am proud that the Congress passed our bipartisan bill and it was signed into law by President Biden last year.”

Read more about the Hospital Inpatient Services Modernization Act here. A video of Senator Carper’s questions at today’s hearing can be found here. 

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