5. The Legislature finds and declares that: New Jersey home health agencies are reporting increased denials of reimbursement for Medicare home-based skilled nursing care by fiscal intermediaries of the federal Health Care Financing Administration; these home health care cutbacks are particularly serious in the context of national efforts to reduce hospital utilization; patients are leaving the hospital earlier and sicker, and need appropriate follow-up care; and the principal source of post-acute home health care for the elderly and disabled should be the Medicare program.

The Legislature further finds and declares that: recent reductions in Medicare home health benefits and other Medicare services may have been made through federal directives to fiscal intermediaries without public review and comment; in some cases benefits are denied in violation of federal law and regulations and, therefore, a program of legal assistance to aid New Jersey Medicare beneficiaries in appealing such denials should be established.

L.1993,c.4,s.5.