Hospital Inpatient Services Modernization Act
The Hospital Inpatient Services Modernization Act would extend the Medicare “Acute Hospital Care at Home” waiver flexibilities through 2030, allowing more hospital-level care to be delivered in patients’ homes under the Medicare program (Title XVIII of the Social Security Act). In addition, it creates a new, formal requirement for a comprehensive, late-stage study and report (due by September 30, 2028) to compare at-home hospital care with traditional inpatient care. The study would assess who is eligible for home-based inpatient care, compare quality, outcomes, and costs between the two settings, examine staffing and service intensity, and collect sociodemographic data to evaluate equity and outcomes across different groups. The bill also reorganizes the related statutory sections to designate an initial study and a subsequent study, while maintaining the existing framework for evaluating the program.
Key Points
- 1Extends the Acute Hospital Care at Home waiver flexibilities from 2025 to 2030.
- 2Adds a new Subsection for a Substantial “Subsequent Study and Report” due by September 30, 2028.
- 3The study would analyze eligibility criteria, and compare numerous metrics such as quality of care, readmissions, mortality, length of stay, infections, care team composition and staffing, transfers between settings, and patient/caregiver experience.
- 4The study would also compare costs, service intensity, and the involvement of family or caregivers, and would include socioeconomic and demographic data (e.g., race/ethnicity, income, housing, proximity to a brick-and-mortar facility, and dual-eligibility for Medicare/Medicaid).
- 5The Secretary must address selection bias to ensure a fair comparison between patients who participate in the initiative and those who do not, and a final report must be submitted to Congress (House Ways and Means and Senate Finance) by the deadline.