National Association for Home Care & Hospice: 2015 Potential Home Care Legislative Priorities

The National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) is seeking member input on its legislative priorities for 2015. Please complete this questionnaire by Tuesday, January 20, 2015. Only one form per agency, please.

The potential priorities are organized by the following topics:
- Medicaid
- Medicare
- Other relevant issues

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* How would you prioritize each of the MEDICAID issues below?

  Lowest Priority Highest Priority
Reverse or fund changes to the companionship services and live-in exemptions to the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Modify employer responsibilities in health care reform to address home care specific needs.
Ensure appropriate Medicaid rates for home care and hospice.
Provide sufficient Medicaid home care and hospice payments so that agencies can provide appropriate wages and benefits to caregiver staff.
Require Medicaid home care programs to offer a full range of delivery models and to meet quality of care standards.
Ensure access to home care in Medicaid managed long term services and supports.
Repeal Medicaid home health face-to-face encounter requirement.
Oppose per capita limits on federal Medicaid payments.
Establish minimum federal standards for home health coverage under Medicaid.
Establish federal standards for Medicaid personal care services.
Oppose reforms that turn Medicaid into a block grant program for the states.
Require Medicaid managed care organizations to contract with any willing and qualified provider.
Exempt home care and hospice from cost-sharing by Medicaid beneficiaries.
Develop and seek enactment of affirmative federal legislation to strengthen Medicaid home care as a required benefit instead of an optional one.
Require rebalancing of long term care services and supports expenditures in state Medicaid programs in favor of home care.
Support a consumer choice of provider in the provision of long term care services.
Provide access to Medicaid enrollment information.
Ensure demonstrations for dually eligible individuals maintain access to high quality home care.
Establish reasonable standards for consolidation of Medicare fee-for-service payments with Medicaid for dual-eligible beneficiaries.
Restrict passive enrollment of dual eligibles in Medicare Advantage plans.
Promote Medicare-Medicaid coordination.
Provide Medicaid payment for telehomecare.
Provide Medicaid incentives to adopt electronic health records.

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* How would you prioritize each of the MEDICARE issues below?

  Lowest Priority Highest Priority
Postpone rate rebasing and establish reasonable standards for rebasing Medicare home health services payment rates.
Repeal or reform Medicare home health face-to-face encounter requirement.
Abolish the Independent Medicare Payment Advisory Board.
Monitor the development and application of any new case mix adjuster in Medicare home health services.
Oppose any restructuring of Medicare cost sharing that could lead to barriers to home health services or hospice care.
Oppose any consolidation of Medicare fee-for-service payments with Medicaid for dual-eligible beneficiaries under the control of the state Medicaid programs that leads to limits on patient choice of provider or access to care.
Ensure a central role for home health agencies in care transitions programs, accountable care organizations, health homes, and chronic care management.
Ensure that proposals to bundle Medicare home health payments with other providers' payments offer full opportunity for home health agency participation and control of the bundled payment.
Ensure full market basket updates to Medicare home health.
Block CMS regulatory "case mix creep" cuts and require a new process for calculating case mix adjustment.
Oppose copayments for Medicare home health services.
Provide a rural patient payment differential (add-on) to ensure access to care.
Establish stability and equity among health care providers in application of the Medicare wage index.
Provide Medicare payment for telehomecare.
Provide financial assistance to home care agencies to expand use of information technologies and implement electronic health records.
Allow NPs and PAs to sign home health plan of care.
Support targeted program integrity measures including strengthening Medicare participation standard for new home health agencies.
Create a Medicare home-based care management benefit.
Establish a home and community-based waiver-type program under Medicare.
Support value-based purchasing as a pilot project with reliable and valid performance measures and a reasonable payment incentive component.
Ensure patient choice of providers and "truth in coverage" under Medicare managed care plans.
Ensure Medicare Advantage and fee-for-service enrollees receive identical home health benefits; prohibit Medicare Advantage home health cost sharing.
Protect providers against financial loss that unknowingly serve Medicare Advantage clients.
Eliminate payments in excess of traditional Medicare costs to Medicare Advantage plans.
Oppose untargeted application of Medicare surety bonds.

Question Title

* How would you prioritize each of the OTHER issues below?

  Lowest Priority Highest Priority
Modify employer responsibilities in health care reform to address home care-specific needs through full funding support or exemption from any penalties.
Enhance consumer protections for home care recipients.
Establish meaningful standards for long term care insurance home care coverage.
Enact a comprehensive home and community-based long term care program for all age groups.
Reverse or fully fund changes to the companionship services exemption in the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Protect consumer choice of provider in the provision of long-term care services.
Reject legislation that eases requirements for the formation of unions.
Provide funds to home care agencies for the adoption of electronic health record systems.
Eliminate or fund health care employer responsibilities in the Affordable Care Act (ACA)
Reverse the Department of Labor's rule changes on overtime for personal care aides and live-in services.
Require coverage of home care and hospice as essential private health insurance benefits.
Change definition of full time from 30 to 40 hours a week fro purposes of the ACA employer responsibilities.

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* Thank you for providing feedback regarding NAHC's 2015 Legislative Priorities. Please consider providing the following demographic information for NAHC's data analysis (optional).

Please state your affiliation.

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* In which state(s) does your company provide home care OR in which state(s) is your association? Please list all applicable states.

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* Please check all the types of services provided by your company.

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* What is the annual home care revenue for your company?

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* Describe your company. Please check all that apply.

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* What percentage of your revenue comes from Medicare?

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* What percentage of your revenue comes from Medicaid?

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* What percentage of your revenue comes from Private Pay?

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* What percentage of your revenue comes from revenue sources other than Medicare, Medicaid, and Private Pay?

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