President Signs Final Health Reform Legislation; Reform Enhances Elder Care

Today, President Barack Obama signed the final healthcare reconciliation legislation the Senate and House approved Thursday, concluding an historic effort to enact healthcare reform.

Both the Senate and the House signed the final reconciliation legislation -- the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010 -- on Thursday. Among other things, the act reconciles differences between the plan the Senate approved in December and the legislation the House approved last Monday. It also includes changes that will close the Medicare prescription drug plan's "doughnut hole" coverage gap.

"The passage of this final legislation will add to the many benefits that healthcare reform offers older adults," said AGS President Cheryl Phillips, MD. "All told, healthcare reform includes numerous, important provisions that will improve elder healthcare now and in the future and support geriatrics careers. The AGS has long advocated for these provisions."

Provisions in the legislation will address disincentives to beginning and continuing careers in elder care in a number of ways. They will reform Medicare payment policy so it more equitably reimburses those who care for older adults. It will offer geriatricians and other primary care providers a 10% Medicare bonus payment for designated primary care services for the next five years. It will initiate a periodic review of physicians' services that are potentially misvalued. And it will create a physician "value-based payment program" aimed at improving the quality of care beneficiaries receive.

The legislation will also establish an "Innovation Center" to test new payment and care delivery approaches aimed at further enhancing the quality of eldercare and improving cost-effectiveness. And it will fund demonstration projects to evaluate such promising models of care as those providing comprehensive geriatric assessments and care coordination for older patients with multiple chronic illnesses and cognitive impairment. The legislation also calls on the Department of Health and Human Services to develop a national strategy for improving the quality of care provided through Medicare and other programs.

In provisions that AGS and the Eldercare Workforce Alliance have long advocated for, the legislation will also expand geriatrics training programs, including advanced training programs that prepare specialists to meet the needs of the most complex, frailest older patients. And it will establish eldercare training programs for the direct-care workers and family caregivers who provide day-to-day care for millions of America's seniors.

Other provisions in the legislation will improve seniors' health by eliminating Medicare beneficiaries' co-pays and deductibles for preventive care, and by establishing new programs to lower hospital readmission rates among Medicare patients.