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Medicare's Homebound Get Wings Select patients to test relaxed limit on outside visits By Rachel Brand, Rocky Mountain News July 31, 2004 Linda Storey never wanted multiple sclerosis to interfere with her life. Even though, at age 33, she could no longer walk. She needed help bathing, dressing and eating. Still, she wanted to accompany her young children on shopping trips and attend parent-teacher conferences. The federal government said no. To qualify for home health care under Medicare, she couldn't leave her house more than twice a month. "It's like being a prisoner in your own home," said Storey, 50, who has a big smile and bright blue eyes. "You're going through such a traumatic time, and then for the government to say, 'Don't move.' It's like you're a little kid again." That rule will change this fall for a select group of Medicare patients in Colorado, Missouri and Massachusetts. The federal government will test a new, more liberalized definition of homebound that allows 15,000 patients to participate as much as possible in their communities while continuing to receive home health care. Colorado was picked because the state has a high number of patients with Lou Gehrig's disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease, a spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said. The rule change should be especially helpful to young patients afflicted with disabling diseases, people like Storey who were caught midstream in their lives and who want to live as actively as possible. Storey, a singer-songwriter, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at age 23 and kept playing guitar and bass in bands. After the birth of her second child, she needed a scooter to get around and help with basic activities. She applied for Social Security, then Medicare, and got daily home health care. She soon discovered the program's irony: Home health helped her go on with her life, but if she got out too much, her home care ended. "If the home health agencies see you getting out a time or two a week, they say, 'Oh, so you're not so disabled,' " and can take away your benefit, she said. "But I thought, I can't do this without your help in the first place." The government is trying to determine how many people, like Storey, will fall under this new, expanded definition and whether it can save money by allowing them to continue to receive home care, a CMS spokesman said. Currently, severely disabled patients can leave their homes only to visit the doctor and attend religious services and funerals. Such visits must be "infrequent and of short duration," Medicare says. "This demonstration will give those with chronically disabling conditions a chance to live full lives and contribute to their communities while still receiving services in their homes," Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said. Storey would like to see even more changes. She'd like to be allowed to work as a singer, she said, and repay the government for her care. Currently, Medicare prohibits home care patients from working. But this new program represents the first step toward rethinking a decades-old program. "It's like, oh yeah, we're trying to help people here," she said. "It's about time." [log in to unmask] or 303-892-5269 SOURCE: Rocky Mountain News, CO http://tinyurl.com/67dsq * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn