Medicare Home Health: Success of Balanced Budget Act Cost Controls Depends on Effective and Timely Implementation

GAO discussed how the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA) addressed the issues of rapid cost growth in Medicare's home health benefit, focusing on: (1) the reasons for the rapid growth of Medicare home health care costs in the 1990s; (2) the interim changes in the BBA to Medicare's current payment system; (3) issues related to implementing the BBA's requirement to establish a prospective payment system (PPS) for home health care; and (4) the status of efforts by Congress and the administration to strengthen program safeguards to combat fraud and abuse in home health services.