NHF Washington Days 2020: Access to Skilled Nursing Facilities

On Feb. 26-28, representatives from Hemophilia of Georgia joined with more than 400 bleeding disorder advocates from around the country for the annual National Hemophilia Foundation Washington Days. Jeff Cornett, HoG’s VP of Research and Public Policy, Theresa Schaffer, HoG’s Director of Social Work, and HoG board member Nick Blackmon and his wife Stefani met with the staff of Georgia’s congressional delegation to ask them to support legislation that would open access to skilled nursing facilities to people with hemophilia with Medicare. Georgia’s congresswomen and men were asked to cosponsor the Hemophilia Skilled Nursing Facilities Access Act, which has been introduced in both the House and Senate.

Currently, Medicare pays skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) a set daily rate for each patient. The set amount is not enough to pay for clotting factor, so people with hemophilia are turned away from the SNFs. This means they either must stay in the hospital or be discharged home. Either way, they are not receiving the level of care they need. Under the proposed legislation, SNFs could bill for clotting factor separately from the daily rate. Medicare already permits this for chemotherapy and certain other treatments.  The House and Senate bills have bipartisan support. You can read more about them on NHF’s website.  Rep. Sanford Bishop is the only Georgia representative to sign on as a cosponsor so far, but we hope to see that change after the current coronavirus crisis.