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Gas Prices and Home Health CareAlong with other factors, high gas prices have hit home health care hard. It has drained the budgets of home health care agencies paying staff members who do home visits and has forced many home health care agencies to reduce service areas. Numerous other home health care providers have even gone out of business.Home health care providers had a difficult time when gas prices were at $2.50 per gallon in the year 2006. With the current price of gas averaging more than $4.00 per gallon, home health care providers may not be able to help seniors who need assistance to be able to stay in their own home. The average fuel expense per home health care visit in June of 2008 totals $14.43 per visit. Only one year prior in June of 2007, fuel expenses per visit totaled $10.71. Home health care agencies receive a predetermined payment from Medicare. Prior to the year 2000, agencies received reimbursements that were based on actual costs and they were allowed to count and receive reimbursements for mileage. Many home health care agencies are cutting back their service areas from forty to fifty miles down to a maximum of twenty to twenty-five miles strictly because of gas prices. Seniors who live outside of these service areas are now out of luck, especially if there are no other home health care providers in their immediate area. The current solution to this home health care crisis involves many challenges that include high-efficiency cars for home health care agencies, alternative fuels, and more drilling for oil off the Gulf Coast. |