ALBANY — Leading up to its state advocacy day on Tuesday, February 6, the Home Care Association of New York (HCA) has issued its budget and legislative proposals for home care, hospice and Managed Long Term Care (MLTC) plans.
Accompanying these proposals is a 2018 report on the finance and program trends within the home care, hospice and MLTC sectors. This report is based on a statistical analysis of state-required financial documents, a survey of HCA’s membership, and other data sets. It provides aggregate data on financial margins, accounts-receivable balances, direct-care staffing vacancies and turnover rates, and other important findings within New York’s home care, hospice and MLTC sectors.
“The proposed state budget contains funding cuts, limits on who can access the home care system and other constraints that would further squeeze a vital but already financially stressed system, as shown in our reports and addressed by our proposals,” said HCA President Joanne Cunningham.
She added: “HCA supports the Governor’s funding for direct-care workers in home and hospice care, but providers desperately need a more efficient, workable and transparent process for disseminating adequate funds to health plans and then to providers. This is a fix that is overdue and needed now.”
“The home care system also needs urgent support to recruit and train home care staff to meet the burgeoning need for care, especially given state and federal reforms that are incentivizing a shift in care to the home,” Cunningham said. “HCA’s legislative proposals aim for a robust plan to increase and support the home care workforce.”
She added: “New York’s home care providers are also leading the way in several public health areas and we ask for the state to support this role – specifically in areas of great concern like sepsis, asthma and opioid addiction management, and health disparities. Home care providers can help bend the cost curve and improve quality in each of these public health challenges.”
“HCA’s legislative proposals also seek to sustain New York’s dedication to high standards of care provided in the home,” she said. “We urge the state to continue to enforce the laws and rules that govern who delivers this care and how it is provided. Home care providers are clinical experts in care delivery in the home and the scofflaws functioning without licensure need to be stopped.”
Both reports are linked below.
HCA’s 2018 Budget and Legislative Action Proposals
Home Care, Hospice and Managed Long Term Care Financial and Program Trends 2018