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All the money stripped out of home care providers' Medicare payments is ending up somewhere. In its annual report, the Medicare Board of Trustees says "the financial outlook for both the major trust funds supporting Medicare has been substantially improved as a result of the Patient Protec-tion and Affordable Care Act" -- aka, the health care reform law passed this spring.

The Part A trust fund is now projected to remain solvent until 2029, 12 years longer than reported last year. And Part B spending, which currently equals 1.5 percent of gross domestic product, now is projected to reach 2.5 percent of GDP in 75 years. Last year, that was estimated at 4.5 percent.

"The largest amount of projected savings under the Affordable Care Act comes from lower annual increases in the prices Medicare pays for services by hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, and most other providers," CMS notes in a release.

More cuts: But don't expect the cost-cutting to be done yet. "Additional policy initiatives are needed to ensure that the HI Trust Fund meets the Trustees' test of short-range financial adequacy or the test of long-range actuarial balance," CMS says in the release. "The time gained by postponing the depletion of the HI trust fund should be used to determine effective solutions to the remaining long-range HI financial imbalance. We believe that solutions can and must be found to ensure the financial integrity of HI and to reduce the rate of growth in Medicare costs, building on the strong measures enacted as part of the Affordable Care Act."