Home Health Stabilization Act of 2025
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Home Health Stabilization Act changes Medicare home health prospective payment rules for calendar years 2026 and 2027. It directs the HHS Secretary to make a positive adjustment to the national standardized 30-day payment amount that fully offsets the proposed -4.059 percent permanent adjustment factor and -5.0 percent temporary adjustment factor in the July 2, 2025 Home Health Prospective Payment System proposed rule. It also requires the 2026 and 2027 national standardized 30-day rate to be built from the 2025 rate, with ordinary updates but without further cuts from the permanent or temporary adjustment clauses, and excludes the additional amounts from certain actual-expenditure calculations. The bill is aimed at stabilizing Medicare home health payments while CMS recalibrates payment behavior under the patient-driven model.
Who Benefits and How
Medicare home health agencies benefit because the bill offsets two proposed negative payment adjustments for 2026 and 2027. Medicare beneficiaries needing home health services benefit if stabilized payments reduce agency closures, service denials, or reduced coverage areas. Home health clinicians benefit if agencies have more revenue stability to maintain staffing and visit capacity. Rural home health providers benefit because thin-margin providers are more exposed to large national standardized rate cuts.
Who Bears the Burden and How
CMS payment staff must implement the positive adjustment by program instruction or other methods and alter 2026 and 2027 rate calculations. Medicare trust funds bear higher spending than under the proposed negative adjustment factors. Federal taxpayers bear the cost of offsetting rate reductions that would otherwise lower Medicare outlays. Medicare budget analysts must exclude the added amounts from specified actual-expenditure calculations.
Key Provisions
- Requires a positive Medicare home health payment adjustment for 2026 and 2027.
- Blocks the proposed -4.059 percent permanent adjustment factor and -5.0 percent temporary adjustment factor from reducing those rates.
- Requires the 2026 and 2027 standardized 30-day payment rate to start from the 2025 rate baseline.
- Authorizes CMS to implement the adjustment by program instruction or other administrative action.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Requires Medicare home health payment rates for 2026 and 2027 to offset the proposed negative permanent and temporary adjustment factors and to use a 2025-rate baseline.
Key Policy Areas
Medicare, Home Health, Health Care Finance
Primary Purpose
Requires Medicare home health payment rates for 2026 and 2027 to offset the proposed negative permanent and temporary adjustment factors and to use a 2025-rate baseline.
Policy Domains
Resolution provisions
Identified Gains
- Medicare home health agencies
- Medicare beneficiaries needing home health services
- Home health clinicians
- Rural home health providers
Identified Costs
- CMS payment staff
- Medicare trust funds
- Federal taxpayers
- Medicare budget analysts
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Hern of Oklahoma (for himself and Ms. Sewell) introduced …
Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in …
Introduced in House
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Medicare home health agencies, Rural home health providers
Medicare beneficiaries needing home health services
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology