Enough Is Enough: No More Home Care Cuts

For more information about home care, visit the Home Care Association of New York State's website at www.hcanys.org

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ENOUGH with Draconian Home Care Cuts

Governor Paterson's 2010-11 Executive Budget Proposal contains $155.2 million in state and federal share home care cuts. If enacted this would bring the total number of cuts and reduction actions to $475.78 million since April 2008 (see chart).

Massive reimbursement cuts have already destabilized agencies and jeopardized access to vital services as more and more providers face the tragic prospect of closing their doors. (To learn more, read the HCA/NYAHSA Lethal Doses fiscal-conditions report on home care.)

While there's no denying the reality of New York's present fiscal challenges, it makes little sense to damage, through further cuts, an area of health care that is the solution to Medicaid efficiency and cost savings — home care.

READ MORE ABOUT THE CUTS

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ENOUGH with Unfunded Mandates

As if the home care cuts haven't done enough harm in recent years, the home care community has been subjected to an unprecedented number of unfunded mandates and new taxes that further chip away at home care's ability to provide cost-effective in-home services to the elderly, persons with disabilities and the chronically ill.

These new taxes and mandates include, among others:

A new gross-receipts tax (GRT) on health care provider revenue;

A new payroll tax on businesses in the Metropolitan Transit Agency (MTA) region downstate;

An enormously costly statewide billing audit mandated by the state following the expiration of a federal program (known as the Third Party Liability Demonstration Project) for efficiently and fairly reconciling payment responsibility for Medicare/Medicaid dual eligible claims.

A recent report by HCA and the New York Association of Homes & Services for the Aging found that unfunded mandates are costing home care providers approximately $65 million per year. To put this in perspective, consider the effect of $65 million on agencies whose costs are largely personnel-related. Under the streamlined home care operating model, the core cost is the servce itself provided by home health caregivers.

Given this profile, when $65 million is factored as a share of home care's overall operating cost picture, then the toll of unfunded mandates and taxes along is equivalent to a 3.6-percent Medicaid cut in just one year.

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www.hcanys.org

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MARCH 10, 2010

HCA Publishes Home Care Advocacy Publication

In coordination with its State Advocacy Day today, HCA has published a new advocacy publication, called Home Care Efficiency.

Home Care Efficiency contains information about: the cost-effectiveness of home care, the financial condition of the home care industry, HCA’s alternative budget proposals, and HCA’s positions on the Governor’s budget.

»Download

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JANUARY 19, 2010

Governor Releases 2010-11 State Budget Proposal

Governor Paterson today unveiled a 2010-11 Executive State Budget Proposal containing $153.69 million in proposed state and federal-share cuts to home care. HCA President Joanne Cunningham stated: "New York's home care system is already in serious financial peril, due to past reimbursement cuts that have left 67 percent of agencies operating in the red. An alarming 44 percent of home care providers must borrow money simply to meet daily operating expenses and fulfill their mission to New York's most vulnerable."

»Read HCA's Statement in Full.

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DECEMBER 2, 2009

Legislature Passes Deficit Reduction Bill

Following up on earlier action by the State Assembly late last night, the Senate today passed a deficit-reduction bill that scales back many of the Governor's proposed home care cuts. The final measure does, however, include an elimination of the trend factor adjustment for all Medicaid providers, including home care, for the final quarter of the current state fiscal year (January 1 to March 31, 2010).The bill also contains a cost-savings provision developed and advanced by HCA to mitigate further cuts.

»Read HCA's Statement in Response to the Cuts.