While overall Medicare spending increased more than 175 percent from 2000 to 2014, home medical equipment spending has not kept pace, seeing an overall 4 percent decline from 2012, the American Association for Homecare reports after examining CMS data.
Furthermore, HME took only a 1.25 percent share of overall Medicare spending in 2014, which marked a sizable drop from a 2 percent share just 10 years earlier, the association noted.
AAHomecare made it’s findings after digging through the data released in CMS’s most recent National Health Expenditure Accounts (NHEA) report. The association used the findings to update its fact sheet on DME’s share of Medicare spending, which compares HME’s flat growth to consistently more rapidly ascending hospital, physician/clinical, and prescription drug expenditures.
Moreover, the document shows that DME spending is an investment that pays significant returns:
- $1 spent on mobility HME saves $16.78 in fall-related recovery.
- $1 spent on supplemental O2 therapy for COPD saves $9.62 in complications.
- $1 spent on CPAP therapy saves $6.73 in Obstructive Sleep Apnea complications.
Additionally, the average hospital stay costs between $1,798 (for profit) and $2,346 (non-profit) per-day nationwide (based on 2014 data compiled by the Kaiser Family Foundation). Providers can find average hospital stay costs for the United States and their state using Kaiser’s online comparison tool.
The association urged providers to use the fact sheet in the advocacy efforts to demonstrate how HME providers and their equipment play a critical role in preventing or shortening hospital stays and clinical interventions, which saves CMS considerable money. AAHomecare noted the following Congressional recess periods as good opportunities to share that information:
- Feb. 15-19 (House & Senate)
- Mar. 4-11 (House)
- Mar. 21-23 (Senate)