Perspective               

Medicare Changes Homebound Guidelines

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has changed the guidelines for Medicare coverage of home health care for chronically disabled, homebound people with Medicare.

People with Medicare who are chronically disabled will no longer be denied home care services if they make short, infrequent trips outside their homes to such events as family reunions, funerals, or graduations.

CMS stressed that determining whether someone is homebound must take place over a substantial period of time, not on a daily or weekly basis. CMS has also added Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, and other neurodegenerative disabilities to the list of conditions that may indicate that a person is homebound.

For more information on the Medicare home health care benefit, click here or call 1-800-MEDICARE to request the free booklet "Medicare and Home Health Care."

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