Gerontology
Area of Doctoral Study: Gerontology
Undergraduate Institute: University of Maryland, College Park
Graduate Institute: University of Maryland, Baltimore
Research Advisor: Joan Davitt, Ph.D. and Denise Orwig, Ph.D.
Description of Research
My research focuses on the Patient Protect and Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the Medicare home health care (HHC) market. The ACA enacted mandatory cuts of up to 3.5% per year to Medicare HHC agencies’ reimbursements (CMS, 2017). Consequently, in the years of 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017, there were reimbursement cuts of 1.05% ($-200 million), 0.3% ($-60 million), 1.4% ($-260 million), and 0.7% ($-130 million), respectively (CMS, 2017). Using mixed methods, I will first run logistic regressions to assess the likelihood of a HHC agency leaving the Medicare HHC market, before and after reimbursement cuts, based on agency characteristics such agency size, location and tax status. Then, based on the results of the quantitative analysis, I will interview HHC directors in various parts of the country to further explore the effect of reimbursement cuts on agencies, practice and patients.