COLUMBIA — South Carolina's Medicaid agency has decided not to eliminate a hospice program as planned, enabling more than 100 poor patients to continue getting end-of-life care, the state health department said Wednesday.
"For the sake of putting people's minds at ease and letting them know the services will be there, we said we'd go ahead and continue," Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Jeff Stensland said.
The cut, expected to save the state $1.5 million through June 30, would have affected about 125 hospice patients funded solely through Medicaid -- dying patientstoo young to qualify for Medicare, Stensland said. The number represents about 6 percent of hospice patients statewide.
The agency's planned Feb. 1 elimination of the program for Medicaid-only patients had been put on a 30-day hold.
Officials decided to take away the ax completely, knowing legislators wanted them to keep the program running and that federal stimulus money could help them do that. The agency also lifted a Dec. 31 freeze on accepting new patients in the program, he said.
Last month, the House unanimously passed a resolution forcing the agency to restore the money. On Tuesday, Sen. Thomas Alexander, R-Walhalla, asked agency officials to find the money somewhere.
"We are elated by this decision," said Renee Martin, a spokeswoman for Harmony Care Hospice in Columbia. "This is so much more than budget numbers on a sheet of paper. This is about people in their most fragile time of life, the sick and the poor. Taking away that benefit at a time they desperately need it the most is just a cruel decision."
Hospice care includes a doctor, social worker, nurse, chaplain and counselors working with the dying patient and family members.
"Removing this benefit made it almost seem like dying with compassionate, end-of-life care was only for the wealthy," Martin said. "Dying should never be a social justice issue."
The agency had planned to cut the program as it dealt with losing $137 million in state funds since July. But if Congress approves increasing the federal Medicaid match -- now $3 for every $1 the state spends -- as part of the stimulus package as expected, restoring hospice would have been at the top of the list anyway, Stensland said.
"So it didn't make sense to cut off the service," he said.
The focus now needs to be on making sure the program continues in the 2009-2010 state budget, said Alexander, who sits on the Senate Finance Committee.
The agency estimates that will require $1.6 million from the state and roughly $6 million from the federal government, Stensland said.
"We believe hospice is a benefit everybody should have a right to," said Tim Rogers, chief executive of South Carolina Home Care Association, in applauding the decision. "We're supportive of dying with dignity."
