HCA Issues One-Page State Budget Priority Briefing Document for 2021 Advocacy  

Situation Report | February 15, 2021

HCA’s 2021 advocacy agenda has several components, supported by draft legislative bill language. These proposals are all condensed in a short-form version or one-pager highlighting HCA’s main areas of priority in an easy-to-read format for state legislators. Our priorities include:

  • Reject the proposed across-the-board state budget cuts.
  • Amend the state budget’s telehealth proposals to include critical guardrails on quality, licensure and scope of practice standards, and ensure proper access.
  • Adopt HCA’s “Home Care First Policy” to ensure consumers’ option to choose home care and hospice.
  • Provide financial sustainability for care by updating episodic and minimum wage Medicaid rates, provide a direct share of federal COVID-19 aid to home and community-based providers, and make Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) a component of reimbursement.
  • Address urgent home care and hospice workforce needs.
  • Continue and expand COVID-19 era regulatory relief.

See our one-pager for further details of each priority area.

HCA has been sharing this document with lawmakers, including in last week’s meeting with Assembly Health Committee Chairman Richard Gottfried and our Board of Directors.

HCA’s board-level legislative advocacy meetings are continuing throughout this week, leading up to HCA’s March 9 State Advocacy Day for all HCA members to participate. Look for details coming soon.

In the meantime, please familiarize yourself with the priorities in our one-pager as well as the findings of our State of the Industry report available here. Together, these centerpiece advocacy documents offer a profile of home care, hospice, and Managed Long Term Care financial and operational pressures while establishing a platform to protect services and ensure the resiliency of New York’s home care safety net.