HCA News and Updates
March 10, 2010
NY Legislative Leaders Voice Support for Home Care on Advocacy Day
HCA posts video clips of today's event on Youtube
Several of the state's top legislative leaders and health care policymakers spoke at HCA's 2010 State Advocacy Day today, March 10, to voice their support for home care.
In their remarks to home care advocates gathering in Albany today, legislators discussed ongoing budget negotiations and applauded the home care community for advancing alternative cost-savings legislation.
The legislators also noted the disproportionate impact of proposed cuts on home care, along with the cumulative effect of unfunded mandates and overly aggressive state Medicaid audit practices on provider stability.
Click here to see video clips of each legislator's remarks online.
March 4, 2010
Check Out HCA's New Advocacy Day Publication Home Care Efficiency
HCA has completed this year's edition of our 2010 Advocacy Day publication highlightin g the importance of home care, our arguments against proposed cuts, data on the fiscal condition of home care, HCA's alternative budget proposals, and other important articles.
The 20-page publication is entitled Home Care Efficiency: An Opportunity to Create, Not Cut.
As its title implies, the central message of Home Care Efficiency is that $155 million in home care cuts inflict undue harm to the very system which saves Medicaid dollars — a system which should be seen as the solution to our state's budget challenges.
In addition, Home Care Efficiency underscores the home care community’s efforts to offer creative fiscal solutions, which we urge the Legislature to embrace in place of destructive cuts.
Download Home Care Efficiency here.
Register for HCA's Advocacy Day here.
February 25, 2010
HCA Board Member Joseph Twardy Brings TPL Issue to CBS 6 News
HCA Board Member Joseph Twardy, President and CEO of the Visiting Nurse Service (VNS) of Schenectady and Saratoga Counties, appeared in a television news report today by the Capital Region's CBS 6 News to discuss the impact on providers of the expiration of NewYork's Third Party Liability (TPL) Demonstration Project.
The second installment of a two-part series, entitled "Medicaid Who Pays," today's segment delves into the process by which Medicare and Medicaid determine payment responsibility when a patient is dually-eligible, meaning that they are covered by both programs.
The first installment is available online here.
February 15, 2010
Albany Times Union Prints HCA Letter on Shared Savings Proposal
The Times Union of Albany today published a letter to the editor by HCA President Joanne Cunningham on HCA's proposed "Medicare Shared Cost Savings Partnership." The Partnership was sponsored in legislation by State Sen. Craig Johnson and was recently embraced in Gov. Paterson's proposed budget.
The proposal would benefit New York's Medicaid system through collaboration among health care organizations and the state on initiatives aimed at more sophisticated management of patient conditions to reduce Medicare costs. Savings to Medicare would be invested in a fund dedicated to NY's Medicaid program.
"Unfortunately, the governor's budget also contains nearly $155 million in proposed home care cuts that would imperil vital cost-saving services delivered by home care agencies," the letter states. "We hope to continue working with the Legislature and Paterson administration on initiatives that promote efficiencies and protect patient care in place of destructive reimbursement cuts."
»Read the full letter
February 9, 2010
HCA Testifies on Impact of $155M in State Budget Cuts to Home Care
Home Care Association of New York State (HCA) Board Member Michelle Mazzacco, Vice President/Director of Troy-based Eddy Visiting Nurse Association (VNA), today delivered testimony on behalf of HCA before a joint hearing of the Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means Committees where she described the impact of $155 million in proposed state budget cuts on a home care system already destabilized by over $300 million in cuts just since April 2008.
"Today, my agency serves patients with increasingly complex clinical needs at home," Ms. Mazzacco said. "Without home care, most of these patients would be hospitalized more often, experience much longer hospital stays, and would more likely need nursing-home care as their health, cognitive, or physical condition deteriorated — all at a much higher cost to Medicaid."
"Yet in spite of home care's proven cost-effectiveness, and its success in managing complex health conditions, a legion of past Medicaid cuts has left many providers in dire economic distress," Ms. Mazzacco said in her testimony
»Download the testimony
»Read the Press Release
January 19, 2010
Statement by HCA on Proposed State Budget
"New York's home care system is already in serious financial peril, due to past reimbursement cuts that have left 67 percent of agencies operating in the red. An alarming 44 percent of home care providers must borrow money simply to meet daily operating expenses and fulfill their mission to New York's most vulnerable.
"The over $147 million in new state-and-federal-share home care cuts proposed by Governor Paterson in today's budget — on top of over $300 million in cuts already enacted since April 2008 — would add to these pressures, further destabilizing New York's home care safety net by making it even more difficult for providers to continue serving patients without racking up enormous losses, tumbling further into debt, cutting staff, or resorting to the elimination of programs.
»Read the full statement
January 7, 2010
HCA Delivers Testimony at Hearing on OMIG
HCA General Counsel Mark Thomas delivered testimony today before the New York State Senate Committee on Investigations and Government Operations regarding activities by the state Office of the Medicaid Inspector General (OMIG).
In a joint statement to the media, HCA President Joanne Cunningham and Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS) President Dan Sisto said the Associations agree with the OMIG's efforts to ensure the integrity of the state Medicais system.
"However, it is our view that OMIG has veered sharply from its original intended mission to protect New York's Medicaid program," the Association presidents said. "Instead, it has begun to lean heavily on often-conflicting technical interpretations of statute and minor or insignificant documentation errors to exact enormous Medicaid payment recoveries for services that providers dutifully rendered to patients who were eligible for the care they needed and ultimately received."
»Read the full statement
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