Washington One week after Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, vowed to introduce legislation to broaden Medicare's “homebound” definition, the Baltimore-based Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on July 26 issued a transmittal designed to achieve the same goal.

But the revised definition still does not go far enough to ensure the rights of home health beneficiaries, according to Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., who last month said he would introduce an amendment to change the definition significantly.

“Now is the time to update the homebound definition itself — not merely to tinker with its interpretation,” Markey told HomeCare. “I will continue working to change the homebound definition through legislation, ensuring beyond a doubt that the most vulnerable home health recipients can leave their homes without fear of losing their desperately needed benefits.”

While Medicare's revised definition allows home health beneficiaries to leave home for “special” non-medical events, such as funerals and weddings, it still requires that a beneficiary have a “normal inability to leave the home.”

But despite the definition's shortcomings, “it is as far as [Medicare] can go from a regulatory standpoint,” said David Williams, director of government relations at Elyria, Ohio-based Invacare. Now, “we have to go to the legislature,” he added.

Both Markey and Collins promised to introduce “homebound” reform legislation this session, but it is not clear whether lawmakers will have time to debate the legislation before the session ends on Oct. 4.

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