Today (Monday, Feb. 2nd) is the deadline for legislators to officially co-sponsor legislation, so NOW is the time to contact your local state legislators and ask them to formally support bills of importance!
The Alliance has worked to file two bills with home health champions in the legislature. One bill is re-filed from past years and is known as the “Nurse Delegation” bill, which would improve the efficiency of home health care services and save state funding by allowing home health nurses to delegate certain medication administration tasks to a trained home health aide, hospice aide, or certified nurse assistant.
The other HCA legislative priority is called An Act Strengthening the Quality and Efficiency of Home Health Services. The bill would establish a commission to study oversight options for the Commonwealth that fit our unique and highly-regarded health care system. The commission will also study MassHealth payment rates and methods to determine if there is a more efficient way to reimburse for both traditional home health services like skilled nursing and therapy, but also palliative care, Alzheimer’s/dementia, behavioral health/substance abuse, and chronic disease management.
Please contact your local state representatives and senators to urge them to sign on as co-sponsors of these two measures. At this early point in the legislative session the proposals haven’t been assigned bill numbers. Right now they are identified as House Docket 3151 (Nurse Delegation) sponsored by Representative Kay Khan and House Docket 1864 (Home Health Commission) sponsored by Representative Kate Hogan. Ask your legislators to contact the main sponsor of each proposal to add their names as co-sponsors.
- Suggested Phone Script: “Hello, My name is ___________ from [home care agency, city/town]. Please co-sponsor House Docket 3151 filed by Rep. Khan and House Docket 1864, filed by Rep. Hogan to advance the quality and efficiency of home care services. If you have any questions, please contact the Home Care Alliance at 617-482-8830.”
If you’re unsure who represents you, please visit www.wheredoivotema.com/ and enter your contact info or visit the state legislature’s website to search by name or location. You can also contact James Fuccione at the Alliance for for more information.
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