Today, Representatives Earl Blumenauer (OR-03) and Tom Petri (WI-06) introduced the bipartisan Medicare Transitional Care Act, which will support and coordinate care for Medicare beneficiaries as they move from the hospital setting to their homes or other care setting and ensure that appropriate follow-up care is provided during this vulnerable period.
The benefit is flexible, supporting a number of much-needed care models including improved assessment, planning, medications management, movement between care levels, and coordination of support services such as meals and medical equipment.
“Transitions from hospital to home can be complicated and risky, especially for individuals with multiple chronic illnesses,” said Blumenauer. “There’s a lot of confusion and uncertainty over instructions, medications, and prognosis. Our bill will support people coming out of the hospital so they don’t just wind up right back in, which is expensive and dangerous.”
“It doesn’t make sense to have a program that only provides part of the care Medicare patients need just to have them become sick again as soon as they leave the hospital,” said Petri. “Providing greater support for Medicare patients as they transition from the hospital back home would improve their health and quality of life while saving taxpayers’ money.”
“As providers seek to improve patient outcomes through more coordinated care, Congress must continue to look for effective policies that address gaps in care for our most vulnerable patients, and improving transitions between care settings is critical to that effort,” said National Transitions of Care Coalition Executive Director, Cheri Lattimer. “The Medicare Transitional Care Act puts in place necessary infrastructure and incentives to foster care transition interventions, with collaborative team approaches that have proven successful, which will lead to better health outcomes for beneficiaries and offer real cost savings for patients, the health care system and taxpayers.”
Researchers with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation have estimated that inadequate care coordination, including inadequate management of care transitions, was responsible for $25 to $45 billion in wasteful spending in 2011 through avoidable complications and unnecessary hospital readmissions.
The Medicare Transitional Care Act is supported by organizations including The National Transitions of Care Coalition, American Society of Aging, Caregiver Action Network, Case Management Society of America, Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine, Hudson Health Plan, Rush University Medical Center, and Sanofi.
