COURT SETS OUT NOTICE RIGHTS FOR MEDICARE HOME HEALTH BENEFICIARIES
| December 14, 2004 |
Contact: |
Gill Deford, Esq. |
On December 6, 2004, a federal district judge in Hartford, Conn. instructed the Secretary of Health and Human Services that Medicare home health beneficiaries must receive written notice when their services are about to be cut back or terminated.
The case, a nationwide class action that was previously known as Healey v. Shalala and is now called Lutwin v. Thompson, was filed in 1998 and was returned to the district court earlier this year by the court of appeals after a ruling in plaintiffs’ favor. The declaratory judgment issued by the district judge explains that Medicare home health beneficiaries must be informed in writing what steps they must take to protect their rights in the event that a home health agency intends to cut back or terminate services.
“It’s been a long haul,” said Gill Deford, an attorney with The Center for Medicare Advocacy, Inc. in Connecticut and Washington, DC, who acted as lead counsel, “but the district court has now established conclusively that, for every cutback or termination, a home health agency must give advance written notice to the Medicare beneficiary. This will be of tremendous assistance to Medicare beneficiaries and their families.”
© Copyright, Center for Medicare Advocacy, Inc. 03/31/2008