Peter Roskam: “I thank Chairman Ryan for yielding time. I am pleased to see that we are taking up this 2-year extension of the…”

“I thank Chairman Ryan for yielding time. I am pleased to see that we are taking up this 2-year extension of the independence at home demonstration project, which expired on May 1. I first got interested in this because of a constituent, Dr. Thomas Cornwell from Wheaton, Illinois. He is actually a visionary. He was way ahead of his time on this effort to reach out to patients at home. He is the president of the American Academy of Home Care Physicians and chairman and chief medical officer of the Home Centered Care Institute. He has been really passionate about this idea of trying to reach people where they are. Since the founding of his home care practice in 1997, Mr. Speaker, he has personally made over 30,000 house calls. So he knows intimately the difference that a home care option makes in the lives of individuals with multiple chronic conditions and the savings that it can bring to the healthcare system to treat these people at home rather than at the hospital. So what he has been able to do is to say, look, this is better for the patient and it is better for the system, so let's pursue this and let's move it further along. That is exactly what the independence at home demonstration brings to Medicare. It focuses on reducing costs where the needs are the highest and improving care where the needs are the greatest.…”