Category: Advocacy

CBS News: Elderly Fear Medicare Cuts

Focusing on the importance of home health care, CBS News reported on the potential cuts to services that help keep patients independent in their own homes.

The story points out how the proposed cuts disproportionately impact home health. According to the CBS News report, home health services make up less than 4 percent of Medicare spending but would account for about 10 percent of Medicare “savings” in both the House and Senate bills.

To send a message opposing these harmful cuts to your federal representatives, please visit our Legislative Action Center.

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.

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.

Cost Containment Roadmap Completed

The Massachusetts Health Care Quality and Cost Council, which is a public entity responsible for setting quality and cost targets for the Commonwealth, has issued the final version of its Roadmap to Cost Containment. The Roadmap outlines 11 key strategies to allow the Commonwealth to meet its goals of sustainably containing cost growth in health care as well as improving the quality of health care.

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.

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.

Alliance Responds to Budget Shortfall Announcement

The Alliance has strongly urged the Patrick Administration to recognize that home health cannot sustain any further reductions and we will continue to advocate as necessary.

In response to the Governor’s recent announcement of a $600 million budget shortfall, the Home Care Alliance has sent a letter to Massachusetts Health and Human Services Secretary JudyAnn Bigby, Assistant Secretary Jean McGuire, and their staff.

In the letter, which can be viewed here, the Alliance states:

As the administration works to implement its plan to address a $600 million shortfall, we offer our assistance as an organization and an industry, but also strongly urge you to recognize that home health care cannot sustain any further cuts. The cost-effectiveness of home health care has been well-documented during the past year and proves the industry’s value.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

Congressman Markey Holding Town Hall on Health Care

Following up on a recent town hall forum in the eastern part of his district, Congressman Ed Markey is heading further west to hold another meeting in Natick.

WHO: Congressman Edward J. Markey (D-Malden)

WHAT: Health Care Reform Town Hall

WHEN: 7:00PM; Monday, October 19, 2009

WHERE: Wilson Middle School Auditorium
22 Rutledge St., Natick

Congressman Markey has an influential position in the national health care reform debate as a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which was one among the trio of Congressional committees that introduced the “Tri-Committee Bill.”

If you are interested in attending this forum and would like information on the potential impact on home health, you can view the NAHC talking points, or contact us for more information.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

EOHHS Seeking Budget Input

Given declining tax revenues and the inevitable end to the influx of federal stimulus funds, the state’s Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) is seeking input on “potential efficiencies, cost-saving initiatives and partnership opportunities that will preserve core services to the fullest extent possible without additional expenditures.”

EOHHS Legislative and Policy Affairs Director David Martin sent out an email saying that the budget hearings scheduled for early October had to be canceled until the full extent of the state revenue picture can be understood.

Also in the email, a questionnaire was distributed to be a guide for any future budget testimony, or to be included as a supplement to any testimony, submitted when the hearings are rescheduled.

Please take a look at the questionnaire and return answers to the Alliance so that we can submit as many comments as possible to EOHHS. If you have any questions, would like more information, or need any guidance on the questions, please contact us.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

Alliance Gets a Word in on Health Care Payment Reform

A stuffy hearing room in the State House played host to a packed crowd of people interested in offering comments, and witnessing the comments of others, regarding the recommendations of the Health Care Payment Reform Commission.

Click here to see more information on the Payment Reform Commission, including their recommendations.

On behalf of the Alliance, Board Member, Co-Chair of the Alliance’s Legislative Committee, and President of the Brockton VNA Beverly Pavasaris gave a great presentation of testimony to the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing. Click here to view the Alliance’s testimony.

As Pavasaris explained in her comments:

A well-designed ACO model focused on cost and outcome could provide a chance for home health services to truly demonstrate our value. On the other hand, if the system is not open to home health’s participation as a partner, then I fear that many home health agencies serving the most vulnerable populations in every city and town could be left out and their centuries of successful public health and chronic care management experience lost.   It is interesting to note that although the daily home healthcare census in any local community is often greater than the number of hospitalized patients, home care received no mention in the Commission’s report, except perhaps in two or three references to “ancillary providers.”

Leading off the speakers were Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. JudyAnn Bigby and, on her last day on the job, Secretary of Administration & Finance Leslie Kirwan. They spoke of how Massachusetts can do better by providing more coordinated care and, although the state ranks near the top in issues of access, it is into the bottom half of states when it comes to cost and efficiency.

Secretary Bigby mentioned that the state can’t just create “another code,” but has to pay for a better system.

Other speakers included Massachusetts Inspector General Greg Sullivan and panels of testifiers from Massachusetts Medical Society, Massachusetts Hospital Association, Health Care for All, AARP, 1199 SEIU, and Cambridge Health Alliance.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.