Tag: advocacy

“Advocacy in Action”

It is busy time in Washington D.C. with a flurry of activity occurring over the last few weeks. Below, please find a brief “round-up” and update for a few key issues/topics we are actively following.

Choose Home Initiative

The Choose Home legislation continues its course towards introduction in the Senate. This legislation has been created in partnership with several key stakeholders to create a home-based skilled nursing facility benefit available through the Medicare program. All signs indicate an introduction occurring sometime on or around July 21st. We continue to communicate with our lead sponsors on the bill and will trigger grassroots advocacy efforts around the legislation as soon as we have word that it has been successfully introduced.

Draft Legislative Text

Notice of Upcoming Joint Hearing

We received notice this week of an upcoming joint hearing between the House Education and Labor HELP and Higher Education and Workforce Investment Subcommittees on Investing in the Direct Care Workforce. The NAHC Advocacy team is currently working on gathering more information on the hearing at this time. LINK

Better Care Better Jobs Act

The Better Care Better Jobs Act (S.2210) led by Chairman Casey, Chairman Wyden, and Leader Schumer with Chair Murray, and Senators Duckworth, Hassan, and Brown aims to carry forth President Biden’s vision for investment into Medicaid home and community-based services. We are encouraged by this legislation but plan to send comments to Casey’s office about a few key concerns we have including the absence of private duty nursing being included in the provisions for the FMAP increase, and advocating for the inclusion of a direct mention of the agency model of care being included alongside the consumer-driven model, etc. Comments will be reviewed by the Advocacy Council, and we encourage those who have comments or concerns with the legislation to send them (address to erb@nahc.org)  as soon as you are able for review and inclusion in the larger set.

Summary

Legislative Language

WISH Act

The Well-Being Insurance for Seniors to be at Home Act (WISH Act) is being led by Congressman Thomas R. Suozzi (NY-03). This Act is being proposed to create a catastrophic long-term care insurance program for seniors that would be self-sustaining and funded through a .3 percent increase in payroll taxes for both employees as well as employers resulting in the ability for individuals to access the fund after a specified waiting period allotting approximately $3600/month for up to 6 hours per day of paid personal care assistance. Assuming the creating of this program, there would be a 10-year period of contribution before any funds would be paid out. NAHC continues open communication with Souzzi’s office on this proposed program and we look forward to our member’s feedback on it. More information can be found through the links below.

Summary

Legislative Text

Essential Caregiver Act

NAHC is actively following the recently introduced Essential Caregiver Act H.R. 3733. This legislation led by U.S. Representatives Claudia Tenney and John B. Larson, allows essential caregivers access to facilities and other congregate living settings to provide care and support to a resident during any public health emergency. Designated essential caregivers would be assured access to their loved ones in a manner that would be consistent with all applicable health and safety protocols. We continue to review this legislation as it applies to the ability to also designated caregivers who are working with individuals to ensure their continued access during a public health emergency, recognizing of course that access for professional caregivers should always continue to be granted but this Bill may help to reinforce the access given that over the course of the pandemic various accounts have indicated there may have been challenges for some caregivers to access their clients.

Summary

Legislative Language

Become a Private Duty Home Care Advocate

The nation’s private duty home care and nursing community fulfills a unique and essential purpose in modern life. Private duty home care provides critical, quality, home-based care, and living support services for individuals young and old, helping them live full, independent, and connected lives in the comfort of wherever they call home.

NAHC is proud to be the leading and unifying voice for the home care and hospice industries helping to ensure access to the highest quality health care and services at home for all Americans. Advocacy, on behalf of the private duty home care community, is an important part of our commitment to you as our members, but also something you can play an active an integral role in by simply signing up!

Why Become a NAHC Private Duty Home Care Advocate?

By signing up to be a NAHC Private Duty Home Care Advocate, you are helping to amplify our voice, strengthen and unify our efforts to help bring access to quality home care and services to center stage and get the support and attention they need to meet the exponentially growing demand.

We encourage you to sign up as an advocate today by visiting the

NAHC Advocacy Center

Every Voice, Every Heart, Every Action

#HomeCareFirst #AdvocacyInAction

“Advocacy in Action”

As the nation enters the holiday season, activity is heating up in Washington D.C., with Congress coming back to session after the Thanksgiving break. Focus is mainly on avoiding a government shutdown by passing of a funding bill and addressing the outstanding need for further COVID relief. At this stage, the forecast is muddy, at best, and it is impossible to make predictions on if lawmakers can come to some kind of agreement and what that agreement might include. NAHC continues our advocacy efforts on behalf of the private home care community related to additional business protections and the supports and resources needed to protect our front line workers providing care to some of the most vulnerable in our nation. 

In addition to our advocacy around COVID-19 relief, NAHC has partnered with the nation’s leading home care and hospice organizations, including the American Network of Community Options and Resources (ANCOR), the Council of State Home Care & Hospice Associations, the Home care Association of America (HCAOA), the National Hospice and Palliative Care organization (NHPCO), the Partnership for Medicaid Home-Base Care (PMHC), and the Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare, (PQHH), to express  our overwhelming support for the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommendation on the inclusion of the home care and hospice workforce in Phase 1a of Covid-19 vaccine distribution. Recognition and inclusion of home care workers, including those in the private duty home care community, in this priority phase of vaccine distribution, was the product of a diligent, on-going, and coordinated advocacy effort from leaders in the home care industry. 

However, there is still a lot of work to be done and a long road ahead. While the ACIP has made recommendations on the framework for equitable distribution and allocation to the CDC and prioritized the home care workforce, their recommendations, even after formally endorsed by the CDC, are just that, recommendations. The logistics and plan for final distribution of COVID-19 vaccinations rests largely at the hands of the individual state health departments and state governors.  Just a few short days ago, to further bolster our advocacy efforts, joint letters were sent to state health departments across the nation and their respective governors, urging them to abide by the ACIP’s December 1st recommendations to the CDC to include home care workers in the initial priority distribution of vaccines. The home care workforce is working tirelessly to prevent the spread of the virus and protect those that they care and provide services for. We now need to do everything we can to protect them, including prioritizing them in the initial 1a vaccination distribution group.

We encourage you to add your voices to the effort and contact your local state health departments and governor’s offices asking them to support the ACIP’s recommendations as they finalize their own frameworks for equitable vaccine distribution. We are stronger together and you can be assured that NAHC will not rest in our advocacy efforts on your behalf.

Every Voice, Every Heart, Every Action

#NAHCHeartbeat

Advocacy in Action: How to Schedule a Meeting with Your Members of Congress

Become an advocate for home-based care now! Join us at March on Washington! Our elected officials need to hear about the importance and success of home-based care and services from the people who know it best, dedicated and passionate individuals like you! Our advocates are the heartbeat of our industry and a catalyst for change.…

Technology, Advocacy, Education on Display at 2019 Home Care and Hospice Conference & Expo

The 2019 Home Care and Hospice Conference & Expo began over the past weekend with a spotlight on technology, advocacy, and education, starting with the Home Healthcare, Hospice, and Information Technology 2019 (H3IT 2019) conference that has been affiliated with NAHC’s annual meeting the last few years. If you’re not familiar with H3IT, it is an annual international…

Go from Novice to Knowledgeable with these 3 Sessions at the 2019 Home Care and Hospice Conference & Expo

Read on for details on how to save up to $300 on registration! Education at the 2019 Home Care and Hospice Conference & Expo will be world-class and that starts with three crucial pre-conference sessions that will cover three of the hottest topics in the industry: the Patient Driven Groupings Model (PDGM), technology, and advocacy.…

NAHC Announces 2019 National Backyard Advocacy Bash July 1-2, 2019

On July 1st-2nd,  your elected officials will be in their local home offices, right in your own backyard, for the congressional recess, and we want you to drop by and show your support for home-based care and services for the first ever NAHC Annual Backyard Advocacy Bash! Advocacy starts at home with you, your staff,…

The Value of Taking a Member of Congress on a Home Care or Hospice Visit

As we come upon the Easter recess of Congress, now is a good time to remind everyone in the home care and hospice community that taking a member of Congress to visit a home care or hospice patient at home is a great idea. Getting elected representatives on home care and hospice visits is a…

Advocate Spotlight: Sara Ratcliffe and Liz Vogt

It’s time for another installment of the Advocate Spotlight, in which NAHC Report draws  attention to a committed and effective advocate for home care and/or hospice in the United States. These advocates for home care and hospice can provide important tips for everyone about how we can better persuade the public and our elected officials…

Effective Advocacy: The Value of Home Care Visits

Previously in this series: Part 1: Home Health and Hospice Need Millions of Advocates. Join the Fight! Part 2: Effective Advocacy: Where and How Part 3: Getting Staffers on Your Side NAHC Report’s ongoing series of articles on effective advocacy has urged you to join the fight and given you the basic nuts and bolts of how…

Home Health and Hospice Need Millions of Advocates. Join the Fight!

Throughout NAHC’s strategic planning process it was made clear by stakeholders from every part of the industry that stout, consistent, and successful policy advocacy is at the core of what NAHC is expected to do for its members and the millions of Americans who depend on home care and hospice. So resounding was the message…