Sinema-Backed Bill Lowers Costs and Protects Access to Home Health Care For Arizona Seniors

Oct 15, 2019

WASHINGTON – Arizona senior Senator Kyrsten Sinema cosponsored the bipartisan Home Health Payment Innovation Act, which lowers costs through innovative payment models and protects Arizona seniors’ access to critical home health care services through Medicare.

“Lowering costs and protecting access to home health care ensures all Arizona seniors can get critical in-home health services,” said Sinema.

The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services have proposed payment cuts to home health care services. Those cuts would limit access to home health services and reduce home health payments by $1 billion, affecting over 3.5 million Medicare patients across the country. The Home Health Payment Innovation Act prevents these harmful payment cuts.

Sinema recently cosponsored the Home Health Care Planning Improvement Act—legislation that helps seniors in rural Arizona access the in-home health care services they’ve earned through Medicare by allowing nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and similarly qualified medical providers to prescribe home health care under Medicare.