Engel Receives National Home Infusion Association’s Congressional Leadership Award
Washington D.C. – (RealEstateRama) — Congressman Eliot Engel, the lead House sponsor of the Medicare Home Infusion Site of Care Act (H.R. 605), received the National Home Infusion Association’s Congressional Leadership Award yesterday in recognition of his work to support patients who rely on infusion therapy.
Congressman Pat Tiberi (R-OH), who co-leads H.R. 605, also received a Congressional Leadership Award.
“I am honored to receive the National Home Infusion Association’s Congressional Leadership Award,” Engel said. “I have long been committed to closing the Medicare coverage gap for home-based infusion care. There is no reason to force patients battling cancer or serious infection to leave their homes for treatment when there is a safer, more comfortable and more cost-effective alternative available.
“I am grateful to the National Home Infusion Association and to Congressman Pat Tiberi for their committed partnership. Together, we will continue fighting to ensure that this coverage gap is eliminated and that patients are able to get the care they need in the best setting possible.”
Patients who have been prescribed infusion therapy receive medications via a needle or a catheter because oral medications have proven ineffective. Infusion therapy is typically used to treat cancers, congestive heart failure, immune deficiencies, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, gastrointestinal diseases, and other conditions.
Currently, Medicare only covers infusion treatments fully in doctors’ offices, skilled nursing facilities and hospitals – even though home-based care is often a more cost-effective, convenient and desirable setting for patients. The changes included in H.R. 605 would give patients the ability to receive these life-saving therapies in their homes and avoid forcing them into institutional settings. This in turn avoids unnecessary costs to the Medicare program and, most importantly, to patients’ quality of life.
“Congressman Engel has been an ardent, long-time advocate of home infusion therapy. He has shown time and again his commitment to supporting the Medicare Home Infusion Site of Care Act, and has spoken publicly about the cost-effectiveness of home infusion as well as the benefits it provides patients,” said Tyler Wilson, President and CEO, National Home Infusion Association. “The Association and the home infusion community are deeply grateful to him for his strong support and commitment. For these reasons, we are honored to recognize his leadership with this award.”
H.R. 605 has been cosponsored by 79 Members of the House of Representatives. The bill is supported by AARP, American Association for Homecare, American Association of Heart Failure Nurses (AAHFN), American Case Management Association, American Diabetes Association, American Pharmacists Association, American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (A.S.P.E.N.), Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Infectious Diseases Society of America, Innovatix, National Community Pharmacist Association, National Home Infusion Association, Oley Foundation, and Patients for Quality Care.
