LeadingAge NY Joins Over 150 Provider Associations in Letter to Stop Medicare Home Health Cuts
(Oct. 28, 2025) LeadingAge National is taking several steps to prevent adoption of the 2026 Home Health Proposed Payment Rule in its current state.
LeadingAge National, the National Alliance for Care at Home, LeadingAge NY, and over 150 home care and related health care provider associations sent a letter to congressional leaders on Oct. 23rd urging action to prevent the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) from finalizing the proposed 2026 Medicare home health payment cuts and also address flaws in the payment system.
LeadingAge National and LeadingAge NY are also supporting passage of legislation introduced by Representatives Kevin Hern (R-OK) and Terri Sewell (D-AL) called the bipartisan Home Health Stabilization Act of 2025 (H.R. 5142). The bill would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to issue a special rule for Calendar Years (CY) 2026 and 2027 to provide a positive adjustment to the standard Medicare Fee-for-Service (FFS) payment and to fully offset the adjustments (-4.059% permanent and -5% temporary) proposed for CY 2026 and any future behavioral adjustments for CY 2027.
As member likely know, the CY 2026 Medicare Home Health Proposed Rule would cut the home health FFS payment rate by 9% and reduce payments to home health agencies (HHAs) by over $1.1 billion, threatening access to essential home-based services for older adults and people with disabilities. CMS's implementation of a new payment system (the Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM)) in 2020 and the nearly 9% payment cuts since CY 2023 have resulted in the closure of over 1,000 HHAs in the past five years. Fewer patients are able to access home health care as a result, increasing emergency room visits and hospital readmissions – both more costly forms of care – and increasing mortality rates.
Please complete this action alert and ask your representatives to co-sponsor new legislation to delay CMS-proposed cuts in FFS payments and protect and preserve home health care, particularly non-profit home health care, and put pressure on CMS to rescind their proposed cuts.
Just last week, the CY 2026 Home Health Final Rule moved to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), marking the near end of this rulemaking cycle prior to the rule’s publication in the Federal Register with payment and other elements made permanent. This year’s process has been particularly drawn out. While it is not quite the latest a final rule has ever been published (that was Nov. 22nd, in the 2013 rulemaking cycle), this is the latest move to OMB in 20 years. It is unclear how long OMB will need to review the rule given the significant concerns raised by the home health sector, as well as other controversial items in the rule around the Durable Medical Equipment Competitive Bidding Program.
Other advocacy on the proposed Home Health Payment Rule includes Representatives Sarah McBride (D-DE) and Jefferson Van Drew's (R-NJ) Oct. 8, 2025 letter to CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz, which points out that millions of Medicare beneficiaries rely on home health each year, and the in-home services not only are more comfortable, but also frequently prevent costly readmissions and nursing facility placements. Yet, they note, “despite this proven value, access to home health benefits [has] been eroding. … In states like Delaware and New Jersey, thousands of patients have lost access to these vital services since 2019, and many of those referred to home health after hospitalization never received it.”
Contact: Meg Everett, meverett@leadingageny.org