On July 15, the U.S. House of Representatives passed S. 971, the “Medicare Independence at Home Extension Medical Practice Demonstration Improvement Act of 2015”, sending the bill to the President’s desk for his expected signature. The bipartisan bill extends a Medicare demonstration project to treat certain patients with multiple chronic illnesses and disabilities at home.
Powers co-founder Jim Pyles has been actively engaged in chronic care issues and the independence at home movement for the last several decades and was a principal author of the original Independence at Home demonstration legislation. Pyles enlisted Powers’ Counsel and legislative strategist Peggy Tighe who worked to advance the legislation, first in the Senate, where the bill was passed by unanimous consent in April 2015 and through the House for final passage in July 2015. A video of the House passage of the legislation can be viewed here.