Situation Report | June 1, 2021
Later today, the Home Care Association of New York State (HCA), the New York State Association of Health Care Providers (HCP), and Leading Age New York (LANY) are joining forces in a press conference calling on the legislature to support S.6640/A.7304, a bill to repeal the Licensed Home Care Services Agency (LHCSA) Request for Offers (RFO).
Passing this bill is urgent before the conclusion of the 2021 legislative session, which ends next week, to eliminate uncertainty, avoid disruption of services, maintain patient access to services and avert a crisis in home care, the associations stated in a draft press release to be issued later today.
“Imagine you are a home care provider duly licensed and qualified by the state, serving the community for decades with quality care, employing hundreds of workers, only to find that a state agency has unilaterally decided to cut your service to the state’s elderly and disabled,” said HCA President Al Cardillo in the associations’ press release. “This process is fundamentally counter to the health, safety and future needs of our society, especially in a pandemic when more patients have looked to home care as they recover from COVID-19 or seek out alternatives to congregate care.”
He added: “If the RFO has an underlying objective such as cost-efficiency, we believe that these objectives need to be vetted and crafted in an appropriate, studied and evidence-driven process, with provider and consumer stakeholders at the table.”
What Can You Do
The state legislative session is winding to a scheduled close on June 11. A repeal of the LHCSA RFO is a top priority. You can help bolster support for this repeal bill at the grassroots level by writing to your elected officials. Almost 500 members have already sent nearly 1,000 messages to their Senate and Assembly representatives on this bill using HCA’s Legislative Action Center. Help us double that number. Take 1 minute and write to your elected officials today by clicking here.