Susan Collins: “What I heard from the home health nurses is not only do all these excessive regulatory requirements and paperwork cost a…”

“What I heard from the home health nurses is not only do all these excessive regulatory requirements and paperwork cost a lot of money to the agency, but they detract from the time that otherwise would be spent caring for patients. Instead of focusing on patients, they have to complete paperwork. Indeed, at that visit in Saco, ME, that I mentioned, the nurses--to illustrate the OASIS paperwork which the distinguished Senator from Kansas has just talked about--put it up all over the room. It covered the walls of the entire room. That was just one OASIS questionnaire. Last year, I chaired a subcommittee hearing of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. We heard about the problems that excessive regulation was imposing. We heard about the cash-flow problems that agencies across the country are experiencing. One nurse from Maine, who runs a home health agency, terms HCFA's approach as being one of 'implement and suspend.' In other words, HCFA requires these agencies to go through all these regulatory hoops to fill out all this paperwork and then says: Never mind. This really isn't what we meant. Meanwhile, tremendous cost and energy has gone into complying with these burdensome regulations.”