Part B infusion visits decrease
By HME News Staff
Updated 10:46 AM CDT, Wed March 20, 2024
WASHINGTON – Home infusion service visits continued to decline in the first half of 2023, according to CMS’s annual monitoring report on the Medicare Part B home infusion therapy (HIT) benefit. The HIT market is concentrated, with seven of the 82 HIT suppliers providing about 56% of the HIT service visits in the past 12 months. The quarterly number of HIT supplier organizations increased from 42 in Q1 2021 to a quarterly high of 74 in Q3 2022 before dropping to 60 in Q2 2023, according to the report. Only 203 suppliers have participated in the benefit out of nearly 1,500 eligible infusion pharmacies and thousands of home health agencies, leaving many states with no participating providers for Part B HIT services, says the National Home Infusion Association, which is advocating for the passage of the Preserving Patient Access to Home Infusion Act, bills(S. 1976 and H.R. 4104) that would include pharmacy services as part of the home infusion therapy benefit under Medicare, covering everything from assessments to drug preparation and compounding to care coordination and documentation. The bills would also direct CMS to pay 50% of the nursing rate on days when home infusion is provided, even when a nurse is not present.
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