Susan Jaffe

Two million Americans rely on home-based care services paid by Medicaid to live at home, which can save Medicaid up to two-thirds of what it would cost at a nursing home.

Medicare officials have allowed patients at dozens of hospitals participating in pilot projects across the country to be exempted from the controversial requirement that limits nursing home coverage to seniors admitted to a hospital for at least three days.

Medicare announced Friday that it was revising rules intended to prevent the agency from paying twice for the same prescriptions for seniors receiving hospice care. The drug categories in question were identified in a 2012 investigation by the HHS inspector general.

Medicare may be overpaying hospitals an estimated $5 billion as a result of the 18-month moratorium on enforcing the controversial two-midnight rule that tells hospitals when patients should be admitted, according to an independent Medicare auditing company.