BRIDGE Care at Home Act

What it does

• •Establishes a 5-year Medicare pilot program (beginning January 1, 2027) allowing skilled nursing facility services to be delivered in patients' homes instead of institutional settings.
• •Waives certain Medicare and regulatory requirements to enable home-based delivery, including facility occupancy standards, in-person physician visit mandates, and telehealth originating site restrictions.
• •Permits eligible entities (skilled nursing facilities, hospitals, or combinations) to furnish covered SNF services at home under individualized care plans that include nursing, therapy, physician oversight, pharmacy, and other services, with 24-hour nurse access and emergency protocols.
• •Requires comprehensive patient protections including informed consent, prohibition on coercion toward home care, caregiver non-reliance, safe transfer protocols, and mandatory reporting of serious adverse events and deaths within 24 hours.

Why it matters

• •Addresses potential inefficiencies in institutional nursing care by testing delivery of equivalent services in home settings, which may reduce hospitalizations, readmissions, and costs.
• •Establishes mandatory data collection and comparative study (due September 30, 2030) on quality outcomes, readmission rates, infections, staffing composition, and patient experience to evaluate program effectiveness.
• •Protects vulnerable populations by prohibiting financial inducements for enrollment, requiring unpaid caregivers not be a condition of service, and mandating safe transitions if home care becomes unsafe.

Who is affected

• •Medicare beneficiaries who are otherwise eligible for skilled nursing facility services under Part A and voluntarily elect home-based care.
• •Skilled nursing facilities, hospitals, and integrated delivery entities that participate as eligible entities furnishing services under the program.
• •State survey agencies conducting oversight and initial readiness reviews of participating entities.

What happens next

The bill was referred to the House Committees on Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce; if enacted, the Secretary of Health and Human Services would begin the program on January 1, 2027, and must complete a comparative study by September 30, 2030.