Author: James Fuccione

NY Times: Home Care Patients Worry Over Possible Cuts

An article front and center on the New York Times website on December 4 focused on the potential cuts to home health Medicare payments in the health care reform debate.

The story is an excellent summary touching upon the political, financial, and, most importantly, the human side of the issue. It also presents the confusion that is experienced by those who work in, and are served by, the home health industry who are aware of its cost-efficiency, among other benefits:

The proposed cuts appear to be at odds with other provisions of the giant health care bills. A major goal of those bills is to reduce the readmission of Medicare patients to hospitals. Medicare patients say that is exactly what home care does.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org

Home Care Month Review

The Home Care Alliance was pleased to have a number of legislators come out on home care and telehealth visits throughout the state in order to raise awareness that November was National Home Care Month.

The Alliance would like to thank the following legislators and agencies who participated:

  • State Representative Cory Atkins;  Acton Public Health Nursing Service.
  • State Representative Brian Ashe;  Spectrum Home Health/Jewish Geriatric Services, Inc.
  • State Representative Steven Walsh and State Senator Thomas McGee; AllCare VNA
  • State Representative David Linsky; Natick Visiting Nurse Association
  • State Representative John Scibak; VNA & Hospice of Cooley Dickenson
  • State Senator Michael Moore; VNA Care Network
  • State Representative Katherine Clark, State Senator Richard Tisei, Mayors Richard Howard of Malden and Michael McGlynn of Medford; Hallmark Home Health
  • State Senator Ben Downing; Lee Regional VNA

To view photos of these visits, visit the Alliance’s Facebook page.

The Alliance will continue to organize visits for legislators and other government officials interested in seeing the many benefits home health care can offer.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

Fearless Caregiver Family Checklist

Gary Barg, Editor-in-Chief of Today’s Caregiver Magazine sent out the following article titled “The Most Loving Gift” in his latest newsletter. For more information on the magazine and caregiver issues, visit caregiver.com.

The Most Loving Gift

My dad retired at the age of 61 in 1990. He looked forward to working with my mom in the new business that they had just opened, traveling, singing with friends (not necessarily singing well, but enjoying every minute) and seeing what life had to offer. Unfortunately, life did not have much to offer past the first few months of his retirement. One summer day, my mom noticed a strange bump on my dad’s head and they went to the doctor to check it out. His doctor called a few days later and, although it was the beginning of the Fourth of July weekend, told them to check into the hospital immediately.  Dad had an aggressive case of multiple myeloma and passed a year later.  The first days after his diagnosis were hectic as Dad’s condition progressed rapidly and he was not able to communicate with us either his wishes or where his important documents were located.  We learned (as many families do) the hard lessons the hard way and developed a simple list to help start the conversation with loved ones.

Fearless Caregiver Family Checklist
The most loving gift a person can give to one’s family is to put your affairs in order before a disaster or medical emergency. To assist in providing that gift, we have compiled the following list. The information and documents you should have prepared include:

  • All bank accounts, account numbers and types of accounts, and the location of banks.
  • Insurance companies, policy numbers, beneficiary as stated on the policies and type of insurance (health, life, long-term care, automobile, etc).
  • Deed and titles to ALL property.
  • Loan/lien information, who holds them and if there are any death provisions.
  • Social Security and Medicare numbers.
  • Military history, affiliations and papers (including discharge papers).
  • Up-to-date Will in a safe place (inform family where the Will is located).
  • Living Will or other Advanced Directives appropriate to your state of residence.
  • Durable Power of Attorney.
  • Instructions for funeral services and burial (if arrangements have been secured, name and location of funeral home).

Happy Thanksgiving and may the easy lessons be yours.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

Home Care Fashion Contest

The Home Care Alliance has invited Boston-area fashion design students to create a home care/visiting nurse uniform.

The Alliance sent out this flier to various colleges that have degree programs in fashion design and entries into the contest will be on display at the Alliance’s annual Spring Conference.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

Channel 5 News Report on Telehealth

WCVB-TV News (Channel 5, Boston) recently reported on a telehealth program run by the VA and a local veterans hospital. The story highlights a 50 percent reduction in hospitalization rates and a 38 percent reduction in bed days for veterans signed up with the remote monitoring technology program, which helps keep patients independent and in their homes.

Recognizing the potential of this technology for cost efficiency and improvement in quality of care, the Home Care Alliance has submitted legislation in collaboration with State Senator Harriette Chandler that would establish telehealth as a reimbursable service through Medicaid.

Many states have already taken this step as the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services allow telehealth to be included as a state service receiving federal matching funds and has the billing and cost infrastructure in place in terms of code definitions and procedures. The VA and other entities in Massachusetts offer telehealth services, but it is not federally reimbursed. For more on this subject, search the term “telehealth legislation” in our blog.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

MassHealth Budget Update

Last week MassHealth announced their plans to address a $300 million budget gap with cuts to, among other things, adult dental benefits, limitations to the personal care attendant program, and increases in generic drug co-pays. The Boston Globe reported on this issue on November 14 and noted in the story’s headline that the cuts “hit” home care, which bears clarifying.

The cuts that the Globe was referencing as reductions in home care are the following:

  • Personal care attendant benefits will no longer be available to patients who require PCA’s for less than 15 hours per week.
  • The entire budget for the Aging Service Access nursing home pre-screening initiative was eliminated. This was a relatively new line item that paid the ASAPs to educate (primarily hospitalized) clients about their options between nursing home care and care at home. While unfortunate, the cut does not directly effect the in-home services of ASAP funded home care.

The Home Care Alliance is pleased that any further damaging cuts to the home care funding and to home health rates were avoided in this round. We appreciate all the members who took the time to contact the Governor with information about the fragility of services and agencies under the current MassHealth reimbursement structure.

With no positive budget information in site, visibility and advocacy remains essential. Please check back to our blog for updates, send messages from our legislative action page, and check our special YouTube site for new videos on our home care visits with legislators for National Home Care Month and other advocacy efforts.

In these very challenging times, the Alliance will continue to strongly advocate for the interests of home care, home health and the patients they care for.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

sHealth announced their plans to address a $300 million budget gap with cuts to, among other things, adult dental benefits, limitations to the personal care attendant program, and increases in generic drug co-pays. The Boston Globe reported on this issue on November 14 and noted in the story’s headline that the cuts “hit” home care, which bears clarifying.

The cuts that the Globe was referencing as reductions in home care are the following:

  • Personal care attendant benefits will no longer be available to patients who require PCA’s for less than 15 hours per week.
  • The entire budget for the Aging Service Access nursing home pre-screening initiative was eliminate. This was a relatively new line item that paid the ASAPs to educate (primarily hospitalized) clients about their options between nursing home care and care at home. While unfortunate, the cut does not directly effect the in-home services of ASAP funded home care.

The Home Care Alliance is pleased that any further damaging cuts to the home care funding and to home health rates were avoided in this round. We appreciate all the members who took the time to contact the Governor with information about the fragility of services and agencies under the current MassHealth reimbursement structure.

With no positive budget information in site, visibility and advocacy remains essential. Please visit our website and check our special YouTube site for new videos on our home care visits with legislators for National Home Care Month and other advocacy efforts.

In these very challenging times, the Alliance will continue to strongly advocate for your interests and we hope you will keep us informed of any issues your agency or organization is facing.

New Study on Insuring Direct-Care Workers

The Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute (PHI) released a report, prepared in collaboration with Tufts University Department of Health and Family Medicine, on the impact of Massachusetts health care reform on direct-care workers.

The report offers three main conclusions:

  1. The employer-based health insurance system is not meeting the needs of employers or their direct-care staff, largely because the current price of private health insurance in Massachusetts is prohibitive for many employers and their workers.
  2. As a result, public and publicly subsidized insurance programs are essential to this sector.
  3. Reform measures appear to have strengthened subsidized options for both employers and direct-care staff. However, access to these options is far from seamless, sometimes leading to “perverse” employment outcomes. For example, to qualify for MassHealth or Commonwealth Care workers often reduce their hours worked. Similarly, employers may limit eligibility for health benefits to those who work full-time, but then offer employees only part-time hours. These disincentives to work are particularly problematic for the home care industry, which is one of the Commonwealth’s fastest-growing employment sectors.

For more information, read the PHI report here.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

November is National Home Care Month: Help Us Raise Awareness

The Home Care Alliance is pleased to join the many agencies, organizations, and advocates across the state and country in celebrating National Home Care Month.

In working to raise awareness of the services provided to patients in their homes, the Alliance is also promoting the cost effectiveness of home health care, which helps people remain independent in their communities, and stepping up advocacy efforts.

You can help us raise awareness by using some of the materials provided below, including a press release and promotional posters provided by the National Association for Home Care & Hospice.

~SAMPLE PRESS RELEASE~

[Agency] Celebrating National Home Care Month
Month-Long Campaign in Motion Across the Country to Raise Awareness of Home Care

(Town), MA – [Agency] is joining home care and home health providers across the state and country this November to mark National Home Care Month and, with an intense focus on state and national health care reform, [Agency] is working to raising awareness of the services they provide as a cost effective solution to help improve care delivery.

“We are very proud of our work that enables patients to remain in the most comfortable and familiar setting: their own homes,” said [agency director]. “[Agency] is honored to help patients remain independent and close to their loved ones.”

Nationally, more than 11 million Americans receive home health care, according to the National Association for Home Care & Hospice. In Massachusetts, more than 150 member agencies of the Home Care Alliance provide over 5 million home care visits each year to approximately 175,000 elderly, mentally ill and otherwise infirm Massachusetts residents.

Through technological advances, home-delivered health care has grown far beyond basic professional nursing and home care aide services. Today’s modern home care agency offers a wealth of services from nursing, physical, occupational, respiratory and speech therapies to counseling, dietary, telehealth (remote patient monitoring) and personal care services.

“So many emerging health care reform efforts play to our member agency strengths,” said Home Care Alliance of Massachusetts Executive Director Patricia Kelleher. “Efforts at reducing readmission rates to hospitals and new state programs aimed at managing chronic illnesses can look to us for help and support.”

The cost efficiency of home care was recently proven in a study by the national research firm Avalere Health (May 11, 2009). Their research found that home health use saves Medicare dollars by reducing hospitalizations and nursing home stays. Based on their findings, an estimated $30 billion could be saved nationally over the next ten years by expanding access to home health for chronic disease patients.

To find out more about home care and National Home Care month, visit www.thinkhomecare.org.

Posters:

~In Memory of Sen. Kennedy

~Honoring the Caregiver

~Preserving Independence and Freedom

~No Place Like Home

~Compassionate Care Delivered to Your Doorstep

The National Association for Home Care & Hospice also lists other ideas on how to celebrate National Home Care Month here.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

Overview of Public Option Proposals in Health Reform

With a renewed focus on the inclusion of the public option in national health reform efforts, CNN.com offers an overview that compares general proposals relative to government-operated health insurance.

See CNN.com’s “Public Option Fuels Debate” here.

To read more on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s plan and reaction to it, check these stories by:

The Associated Press, MSNBC, and the New York Times Politics Blog

 

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

 

New Advocacy Message Available: Keep Care in the Community

Please visit our Legislative Action Center where the Alliance has posted a new message to Governor Deval Patrick and his administration.

The message, titled “Governor: Please Keep Care in the Community” points out the fact that home health agencies and VNA’s are still dealing with the cuts from last year and could not survive any further reductions.

The Alliance has already sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary JudyAnn Bigby, Assistant Secretary Jean McGuire and their staff regarding Governor Deval Patrick’s announcement that Massachusetts is facing a $600 million shortfall. Among the Governor’s “five-point” plan for addressing the gap involves laying off 2,000 state employees and management furloughs, consolidating state agencies wherever possible, calling unions to the table, and calling for legislative action on the Governor’s municipal relief package to mitigate cuts to local aid.

Please help us advocate by sending your own message to the Governor.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.