Sens. Herb Kohl (D-WI) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA)

Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Herb Kohl (D-WI) have introduced the “Home and Community Balancing Incentives Act,” a bill that would offer enhanced federal Medicaid matching rates to states that are willing to implement home and community-based health care programs.

Specifically, the proposed legislation would:

• Improve case management to help people stay out of nursing homes
• Allow for consumer direction
• Provide a coordinated system that assists in transitioning people from nursing homes back to the community
• Create a standardized, state-wide assessment program to monitor home and community- based enrollees’ eligibility status
• Develop a services and information clearinghouse so people can have one easily learn about their home and community-based options
• Require providers to submit data on the services they provide so agencies and states can create a standardized method for tracking and charging home and community-based services
• Collect data on consumer outcomes

In a press release, Cantwell says that the federal government could save $10 billion over a five-year period by moving 5 percent of nursing home patients into home- and community-based care. The bill would also set up systems to help with the transition to HCBS and monitor its use.

“PHI welcomes federal efforts to support consumer choice,” says National Policy Director Steven Edelstein. “We are concerned, however, that we do not yet have public policies that will ensure that an adequately trained and supported workforce is available to care for consumers in their homes. PHI continues to advocate for including greater investments in the direct-care workforce in national health reform legislation.”

Cantwell and Kohl are both deeply involved in current efforts to reform the nation’s health care system. Cantwell sits on the committee headed by Sen. Ted Kennedy that is currently drafting the Senate’s national health care reform bill, and she has been designated the lead for the committee on workforce issues. Kohl chairs the Senate Committee on Aging and was responsible for introducing the “Retooling the Health Care Workforce for an Aging America” act in 2008.

After an unsuccessful effort to include provisions of his bill in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act,  Kohl and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) received a promise from Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, that the needs of the long-term care workforce would be considered in health care reform (see “Senate Floor Discussion Leads to LTC Promises,” PHI, Feb. 12).  The Finance Committee is the other Senate committee involved in drafting health reform legislation.