Member Discount on OSHA Compliance Manual

To provide easy tools to help agencies comply with the new OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard promulgated on June 21, 2021, RBC Limited – a leader in home health and hospice emergency management – has produce a new Workplace Safety for Occupational Exposure to COVID-19 E-Book.  The document includes model policies and multiple forms in the addendum section that will be helpful as guidance for compliance with the OSHA Standard.  The manual can also serve as a template for any other infectious communicable diseases.  All documents may be used as is or may be personalized by using PDF editing software.

RBC Ltd. Is making this essential compliance tool available to members of HHAC at the discounted member price of $200 (20% off the regular price)!  Click on this link for more information and to order your copy today:  https://www.rbclimited.com/product/workplace-safety-for-occupational-exposure-to-covid-19-e-book/.

Take Part in NAHC's Summer Advocacy Campaign! 

The National Association for Home Care and Hospice's Summer Advocacy campaign is under way right now and we need your support to make it successful. Please visit the NAHC Advocacy Center right now and take action on our key issues:

• Choose Home Care Act
• Better Care Better Jobs Act
• Expanding Access to Palliative Care Act
• CONNECT for Health Act (telehealth)
• And any other issue that matters to you

Then, please share that issue with at least ONE other person and ask them to do the same.  The NAHC Advocacy Center has pre-written messages, or you can choose to craft your own. It takes literally only a few seconds of your time to send a message and your elected officials will notice!

House Democrats break internal impasse to adopt $3.5T budget plan

The Hill
 
House Democrats [Last Tuesday] rallied behind a new strategy to advance President Biden’s economic agenda shortly after Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) struck a deal with a small group of moderates that was threatening to blow up leadership’s carefully laid plans to pass trillions of dollars in federal spending.
 
The House voted 220-212, strictly along party lines, to adopt a rule that allows Democrats to immediately begin work on a massive $3.5 trillion social benefits package. The rule also requires the lower chamber to take up the Senate-passed bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill by Sept. 27.
 
In addition, the rule clears the way for the House to vote later Tuesday on legislation that would restore the portion of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that required localities with histories of voter suppression to get federal clearance before making changes to election laws.
 
The deal Pelosi reached Tuesday provides a brief detente between Democratic moderates and progressives as House lawmakers leave Washington to resume their summer recess.
 
But the internecine sniping over process, strategy and timing foreshadows just how difficult it will be for the party to stay united when it comes to turning its policy goals into law in the coming weeks as it seeks to show voters that they can govern…
  
Pelosi added in a statement that she is “committing” to pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill by Sept. 27, shortly before current surface transportation programs expire…

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Value Based Purchasing to Include All HHAs as of 1/1/22

by Tim Rowan, Editor

In recent years, CMS has vetted 54 proposals to improve patient outcomes while lowering costs. Most of them did not show either result, and many actually increased costs. The one that did show positive results is Value Based Purchasing. In trials, it showed a 4.6 percent improvement in quality scores and, according to the CMS Innovation Center, was one of only five proposed programs to show any cost savings at all.

After testing it for five years in nine states, CMS is confident that VBS is ready to expand nationwide. In fact, they are ready to start in just over four months. Exactly how VBP will affect HHAs immediately on January 1, 2022 requires some detailed unpacking.

At NAHC's Financial Managers meeting in Chicago, SHP's Chris Attaya shared his research into VBP for Home Health. The gist of his message is that HHAs need to be prepared, and they should have started a year ago. Though payment adjustments will not happen until calendar year 2024, baseline measurements that will determine whether those payments will be rewards or punishments begin on January 1. 

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