A new bill introduced in the House and Senate could expand access to critical advance planning services in Medicare and allow people with serious illness to access more advance care planning services.
The Improving Access to Advance Care Planning Act would allow social workers to provide advance care planning (ACP) services, remove beneficiary cost-sharing, promote increased education for providers on current ACP codes, and improve reporting on barriers to providing ACP services and billing the corresponding codes. The bill was introduced in the Senate by Mark R. Warner (D-VA) and Susan Collins (R-ME) and in the House by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR).
To support uptake, the bill mandates that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services conduct provider outreach and education about ACP billing codes. It also requires the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) to study utilization, billing barriers, and access gaps and to report to Congress.
“Decisions about care planning are some of the hardest for a family to make, but they’re also some of the most important. One of my biggest regrets was not having early conversations about care planning with my own mom, who suffered from Alzheimer’s for 11 years and was unable to speak for nine of those years,” said Warner in a statement. “Folks with a serious illness deserve to have a say over what their care should look like, and families deserve the certainty of knowing they are honoring their loved ones’ wishes.”
“End-of-life issues are nuanced and complicated, which is why it’s so vital that older adults and families have good access to advance care planning. This bill is an important step toward greater, affordable access to planning that all Americans need,” said Katie Smith Sloan, President, and CEO, LeadingAge (a community of non-profit aging services providers), in a statement.
The Improving Access to Advance Care Planning Act proposes an important shift: treating advance care planning not as optional or incidental, but as a covered, accessible piece of person-centred care. If enacted, it could remove cost and provider barriers, expand access to meaningful conversations, and better ensure that individuals’ wishes guide the care they receive.
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