Powerofhomecare.org is the Home Care Association of New York State’s advocacy website — a one-stop location for all relevant state advocacy materials and resources.
HCA’s 2012 ADVOCACY MESSAGE
This year’s 2012-13 proposed state budget continues Medicaid Redesign Team policies and provider cuts now being implemented which have resulted in upheaval and confusion in the home care sector.
The issue resides largely in three areas: 1) the state’s plan for mandatory enrollment into managed care and managed long term care; 2) implementation of the home care wage parity mandate; and 3) the timing and accumulation of retroactive cuts from last year’s budget, and the continuation of those same provider cuts this year (a near $1 billion two-year impact).
Policy details aside, the upheaval and confusion experienced by home care providers are due largely to the state’s unclear (and sometimes conflicting) guidance for system stakeholders to implement these policies, a lack of assurances for continuity of care to patients, a lack of options for the continuity of existing provider and program networks serving thousands of patients, and the state’s unreasonable implementation timetable, especially given the fact that fundamental questions remain unanswered.
Hear HCA's Testimony at the Feb. 8 joint legislative hearing on the Medicaid and Health Care parts of the budget.
HCA is proposing legislative safeguards to assure that these transitions in home care can preserve patient access, can protect the rights of patients and consumers, and can offer community-based providers some predictability, stability and pathways to participation in the new system.
As part of this advocacy effort, The Home Care Association of New York State (HCA) “Power of Home Care” website will feature posts about: HCA’s budget proposals, stories about patients, home care videos, home care financial condition reports, state budget news, and advocacy resources to educate and engage lawmakers and the general public about the importance of home care and the need to provide a pathway for home care provider organizations in this changing care delivery environment.
ABOUT HCA
The Home Care Association of New York State (HCA) represents approximately 500 home care provider, allied and associate members concerned with the provision of home health care services to hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers. HCA providers cover the entire state, caring for patients who span the gamut from newborns and new mothers to centenarians, from post-surgical and other post-acute hospital discharges to countless New Yorkers whose every day goal is life at home and in the community instead of in an institution.
