§3. Requiring additional study and report on acute hospital care at home waiver flexibilities
This section designates the existing study of the Acute Hospital Care at Home initiative (i.e., a CMS waiver program allowing hospitals to furnish acute inpatient-level services in beneficiaries' homes) as the "initial study," redesignates subsequent subsections, and requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct a subsequent study and submit a report to the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee by September 30, 2028. The study must (1) analyze hospitals' criteria for furnishing services under the initiative; (2) compare, within and across participating hospitals and relative to nonparticipating hospitals, quality of care and outcomes (e.g., readmissions within and beyond 30 days, mortality, length of stay, infections, patient experience), clinical conditions treated, costs (e.g., staffing, equipment), service quantity and intensity (e.g., in-person visits, virtual contacts, caregiver involvement), and socioeconomic factors (e.g., race, income, dual eligibility) between the initiative and traditional inpatient care for similar patients and diagnosis-related groups; and (3) assess differences for patients entering the initiative from emergency departments versus inpatient units, controlling for selection bias.