THE HOME HEALTH industry may have a new ally in the form of the bipartisan Home Health Working Group. As a task force of the Rural Health Care Coalition, this congressional group of 50 legislators is dedicated to preserving home care, said Jack Zylman, legislative assistant to Rep. Earl Hilliard, D-Ala., who, along with Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa., helped form the HHWG.

"We will be concerned with both defending patients and defending the industry," Zylman said. Formed in June, the group hit the ground running by requesting the General Accounting Office to take a look at what the Health Care Financing Administration is doing. One of the group's concerns, Zylman said, is that HCFA, in its zeal to discourage fraud and abuse, is micromanaging the home health care industry-something HHWG members do not believe is necessary. OASIS and the 15-minute rule, both of which affect home health agencies, are among the "nit-picking" systems that reflect HCFA's micromanagement, he said.

Meanwhile, Rep. Bob Riley, R-Ala., and Rep. Bob Etheridge, D-N.C., two members of the HHWG, are pushing their own bill, HR2546, which seeks to ensure access to home health care. The bill calls for, among other things, developing a new prospective payment system based on hard data for home health agencies. -S.H.