Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) recently introduced legislation to convert the Independence at Home (IAH) demonstration into a permanent, national Medicare program. Called the Independence at Home Act 2016, this legislation has tremendous implications for everyone in the home based medical care community. If passed and signed into law, this would be the first significant benefit addition to Medicare in this decade. HCCI is a proponent of this legislation and applauds the efforts of all those working on its behalf.
We urge anyone interested in seeing this legislation move forward, to contact your home state’s representatives about this important initiative.
HCCI hosts the Chicago Home Centered Care Network for its Summer Update meeting, via webinar on Thursday, July 21, 12pm CDT. The session features an update on the significant progress made in home centered care in the Chicago area over the past several months, along with the latest news on the Independence at Home Act 2016, introduced in early July 2016. HCCI CEO Thomas Cornwell, MD will lead the webinar and be joined by Peggy Tighe, Partner at Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville PC and Counsel on behalf of the American Academy of Home Care Medicine.
Independence at Home (IAH), Medicare’s most successful demonstration project to date, receives stellar support from Illinois State Representative Peter Roskam. He credits his constituent, HCCI Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Thomas Cornwell, with inspiring him to advance this important legislation. In it’s first year, IAH reported a remarkable 25 million dollar overall cost savings. Even greater savings are expected in the soon to be released second year data.
House call physicians play a powerful role in end-of-life care. According to AAFP News, family and primary care physicians like HCCI’s founder, Dr. Thomas Cornwell, and University of Illinois at Chicago’s, Dr. Javette Orgain facilitate discussion which offer patients and their families the best support for their end-of-life care.