Medicare Home Health Payment Integrity and Protection Act of 2026

Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall submit to Congress a report—

(1) identifying the degree to which suspect claims and cost reports influenced payments made to home health agencies under section 1895 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395fff) after 2020;

(2) analyzing the effect of excluding suspect claims (as defined in subsection (f) of such section 1895) from the calculation of payment rates, case-mix weights, behavioral assumptions, and adjustments under such section 1895; and

(3) including recommendations for permanent data-integrity safeguards for home health agencies to prevent the inclusion and application of utilization, cost, and payment data from home health agencies that the Secretary determines are at risk of providing unreliable and inaccurate data.