Situation Report | March 29, 2021
HCA has added three profiles to our new Home Care #VaccinateNY feature which is showcasing the work of home care providers who have deployed in-home vaccination programs for patients.
Our features so far include Essex County Department of Health’s home care program, Montefiore Home Care, and Nascentia Health. We thank them for sharing their stories and being a part of this feature.
If your agency is operating a home care vaccination program and would like to tell us about it, please write to HCA’s Communications Director Roger Noyes who can interview you to gather details and write a summary. Alternatively, you can send us a program summary similar to the profiles already posted to our website. Please also be prepared to share a photograph: it could be a nurse vaccinating a patient or something as simple as your team carrying vaccine supplies.
A lot of national and state media attention has focused on the complexity of how to vaccinate the homebound population. Interest is driven by demand for this option. If your agency is operating a vaccination program, those efforts present a good opportunity for positive publicity of home care’s role and we encourage providers to be as proactive as possible in communicating this role, be it with the media, legislators or other stakeholders.
HCA and Members Meet, Prepare for Further Discussion with Governor’s Office on Vaccinations
Last week, HCA met with several members who have been identified for their work spearheading home care vaccination programs to learn more about their programs, including challenges, successes, best-practices, partnership arrangements, and more. The planning meeting was designed to gather input for further discussions with the Governor’s office who reached out to HCA and partners associations for ideas on further supporting home care’s role in the vaccination effort and reaching homebound populations.
Among the major issues we discussed were: staffing shortages, which make it difficult to dedicate nurses to vaccinations outside of day-to-day patient care duties; the challenges of disseminating doses within time constraints or other restrictions that could be reexamined in the state’s guidelines; navigating billing codes and other reimbursement issues for various payors; a range of logistical challenges; and more.
HCA is synthesizing all of the points made during the meeting and compiling a set of discussion points for HCA and members when we next meet altogether with the Governor’s office on some recommendations. Stay tuned for further details.