Kansas committee hears bill to exclude outpatient therapy-only providers from home‑health definition

At a hearing of the Kansas Senate Health and Public Welfare Committee, members heard testimony on House Bill 2039, which would amend the definition of “home health agency” in the Kansas Credentialing Act (KSA 65-5101) to exclude entities that only provide physical therapy, occupational therapy or speech‑language pathology and are not reimbursed by Medicare Part A.

Committee staff member Jenna delivered the bill brief, saying the measure would add language to subsection (c)(2) of KSA 65-5101 to clarify that entities not reimbursed by Medicare Part A and that provide only the three therapy services would not be required to meet home health agency licensure and regulation. Jenna told the committee the bill would take effect upon publication and in the statute book on July 1 and that it passed the Kansas House by a 119‑0 vote.

The bill’s oral proponent, Stephanie Underwood, general counsel for Fox Rehabilitation, told the committee Fox is an outpatient provider that bills Medicare Part B and operates in 36 states plus the District of Columbia. “We are a Part B provider of outpatient physical, occupational, speech therapy services in the homes of older adults,” Underwood said. She said Fox’s average patient is 82 years old with multiple comorbidities and that roughly 60 percent of its services occur in assisted living facilities and 40 percent in private residences.

Underwood described the company’s concern that Kansas’s current statutory definition pulls outpatient therapy providers into regulatory requirements designed for traditional home health agencies. “Home health agencies are facilities,” Underwood said. “Those laws tend to then take those responsibilities of the facility and put them back on us as well,” adding that facility‑level requirements can impose administrative burdens that do not match Fox’s outpatient business model.

Senator Thompson asked whether the bill would allow outpatient therapists to provide services in patients’ homes without the home health‑agency license. Jenna replied that the bill would not change individual clinician licensing — physical therapists and speech‑language pathologists would still be individually required to hold professional licenses — but would remove the need for a separate home health agency license where an entity provides only the three therapy services.

Senator Rose asked about patient costs under the change, noting differences between Medicare Part A and Part B cost sharing. Underwood said Fox bills Medicare Part B and that patients would continue to be subject to Medicare Part B cost sharing and any deductible. “Our patients are not homebound,” she said. “Home health’s goal is to get that individual patient to be no longer homebound. We are trying to get them functionally well.” Underwood told the committee that Part A and Part B have different payment models and program goals, which can change the amount and focus of therapy provided under each benefit.

Committee discussion also recorded written proponent testimony from Phoenix Home Care and Hospice (Springfield, Missouri) and written material provided to the committee from Via Christi, the Kansas Physical Therapy Association, the Kansas Occupational Therapy Association and the Kansas Medical Society, which the proponents said they had consulted.

The committee did not take a vote at the hearing. The chair closed the hearing after the oral proponent’s testimony and committee questions; no floor action or committee amendment was recorded during the session.

Votes at a glance: none taken — hearing only.

What the bill would do: amend the definition section of the Kansas Credentialing Act (KSA 65-5101) so that an entity that is not reimbursed by Medicare Part A and that provides only physical therapy, occupational therapy or speech‑language pathology would not be treated as a home health agency for licensure and regulatory purposes. The bill brief said the change would be effective upon publication and in the statute book on July 1.

Next steps: the hearing record will remain open per committee practice for any additional written testimony; no committee vote or amendment was recorded during this session.