Delaware Ambassadors and employees have set participation records at two key annual advocacy events this year—The Delaware Association for Home and Community Care (DAHCC) Legislative Day and our annual testimony in front of Delaware’s Joint Finance Committee (JFC).
The first, the Delaware Association for Home and Community Care (DAHCC) Legislative Day on March 13, had a record attendance of more than 50 attendees! 41 registered for the event, which would have been a record itself, but the larger-than-expected turnout was an impressive surprise. Seven providers, including BAYADA, were represented, and the crowd included six families advocating for themselves and their nurses. Everyone wore their own company’s branded gear but united behind Hearts for Home Care buttons that proclaimed, “Home Health Care Matters to Me.” Legislators heard our message was heard loud and clear.
In another first for Delaware, two legislators spoke in support of a large rate increase for Delaware’s home care RNs and LPNs at the DAHCC Day Press Conference. To make it even better, the two were none other than the Senate Majority Leader, Senator Nicole Poore, and the House Majority Leader, Representative Valerie Longhurst. Both spoke passionately about the importance of home care in our communities and the need to increase reimbursement to ensure that this vital care is available to those who rely on it. They were joined in speaking by the Executive Director of DAHCC, Jean Mullin, and BAYADA client Haley Shiber.
A week later, on March 20, Delaware advocates broke another record when 15 members of our community testified before the powerful Joint Finance Committee (JFC) in support of increasing Medicaid home care reimbursement rates. Led by Jean Mullin, participants included Torie Carter, Jenny Scott, Mandy Brady, Judeth Smith, Ali Knott, Danielle Myers, Shannon Gahs, Dave Totaroand representatives from Epic/Aveanna and Maxim/Aveanna. Client Haley Shiber was unable to attend in person but sent a powerful testimony video to the JFC members before the hearing. The Joint Finance Committee hears budget requests from all state agencies and testimony from the public before making an annual budget recommendation to the full General Assembly. The General Assembly frequently follows the majority of those recommendations. Members of the committee told BAYADA in the days following the hearing that they had never before seen such a large contingent testifying on a single issue!
The industry-wide coalition led by BAYADA and DAHCC is pushing the Delaware legislature for a 21% increase in the Medicaid home care RN and LPN rates, which would impact our Skilled Nursing practices—Pediatrics and Adult Nursing. Because of the home care Rate Floor passed two years ago mandating that Medicaid MCOs pay no less than Medicaid fee-for-service, these new higher rates would have to be paid not only for “straight Medicaid” hours but also those funded by managed care in Delaware. These two rates currently remain at their 2006 levels, harming our ability to recruit and retain the highly-skilled RNs and LPNs that are so important to the lives and welfare of our clients.
