Rising fuel prices affecting some health care workers

Rising fuel prices are causing financial strain for some home health care workers and the industry is considering replacing some services in rural areas with remote monitoring systems, the AP/Chicago Tribune reports.

Gasoline prices have increased by more than 80% in the past 18 months, and experts say it is "a particularly knotty problem for nurses, aides and other employees of home health care agencies -- many of whom are responsible for their own travel expenses and depend on government reimbursements that haven't yet caught up with the rising prices at the pump," the AP/Tribune reports. A survey by the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging found that 50% of home care employees said they have already cut back on home visits because of fuel costs and 90% expect to make cuts in 2009.

Industry officials have said they are unaware of any instances where a patient's care was compromised because of transportation costs, but "they are worried it could happen," according to the AP/Tribune. In order to ensure patients get the care they need, some companies are providing employees with prepaid gas cards, fuel efficient rental cars, computer mapping software to reduce the number of miles workers drive between home assignments. Some home health care companies also are considering "abandoning uneconomical home visits in far-flung locations" and increasing the use of remote monitoring systems to check patients' vital signs, "which many companies previously deemed too expensive," the AP/Tribune reports.

The Home Care Technology Association of America is lobbying Congress to change Medicare rules by reimbursing companies who adopt the use of remote monitoring systems. Meanwhile, NAHC is pushing Congress to reinstate Medicare's rural "add-on," which expired in 2006 and would provide a 5% increase in reimbursements to home care providers who serve beneficiaries in rural areas (Richtmyer, AP/Chicago Tribune, 7/20).