HCA and NYAHSA Issue Vital Signs Report

Download: HCA and NYAHSA's Press Release on the Vital Signs Report

For Immediate Release: January 31, 2011

Contact:
Roger Noyes (HCA); (518) 810-0665
Kris Jensen-Van Heste (NYAHSA); (518) 867-8383

[Download the Vital Signs report at www.hca-nys.org/VitalSignsReport.pdf]

Report: State Budget Cuts Have Imperiled New York's Home Health Care Delivery System

The Home Care Association of New York State (HCA) and New York Association of Homes & Services for the Aging (NYAHSA) have issued an alarming report on the fiscal condition of New York's home health care community.

Based on an analysis of official, independently-certified financial statements, this report, entitled Vital Signs (see link above), discovered that prior-year state budget cuts and unfunded mandates have forced:

• 70% of New York home care agencies to be operating in the red.
• 79% of home care programs serving the chronically ill to be operating in the red. These programs provide essential long term care services at home to nursing-home-eligible patients at an average of 50% of the cost of nursing home care.
• 83% of county-run home care agencies to be operating in the red. These agencies are a lifeline in predominately rural communities, providing vital public health services in critical-need areas of the state.

HCA President Joanne Cunningham said: "Home care already saves millions of dollars by preventing higher-cost health services. These safety-net programs continue to save dollars, sustain lives, and support New York's entire health system even against a tide of irresponsible budget cuts that have done little else than needlessly threaten their existence and deteriorate access to services. This course is unacceptable, especially as the home care community offers realistic, productive and workable efficiency and reform proposals that build upon existing models, further enhancing the system and protecting access to care."

Dan Heim, NYAHSA Interim President/CEO, emphasized that cuts to home care will most likely increase Medicaid costs, not reduce them. "This starkly shows the consequences of setting policy through budget cuts," he said. "Rather than promoting a coordinated long term care system that would provide frail New Yorkers with the most appropriate and cost-effective care, cut after cut has endangered the very existence of the vital home care services an increasing number of individuals will rely upon, whether funded by Medicaid or not. Destroying existing services will not eliminate the need for them; rather, it will only lead to adverse health outcomes and increased reliance on services in more expensive settings."

Further information

The findings of this report are based on the 2008 Medicaid Cost Reports that home care providers must submit to the state in order to participate in Medicaid. The reports provide official, independently-certified financial and statistical data. Of note:

1) 2008 is the most recent cost report year available, since New York State uses two-year-old cost reports for setting provider reimbursement rates.

2) Since 2008, the Legislature and Executive have enacted $434 million in state budget cuts to home and community-based providers (see chart in Vital Signs report), meaning that the impact of these recent, unprecedented cuts is not reflected in this analysis.

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The Home Care Association of New York State (HCA), the state's premier home care association, represents approximately 500 providers, individuals, and associate members who collectively serve thousands of New Yorkers. HCA and its home health care provider members work to promote excellence and support high-quality, cost-effective home care and community services to the citizens of New York State. HCA providers cover the entire state, caring for patients who span the gamut from newborns and new mothers to centenarians, from post-surgical and other post-acute hospital discharges to countless New Yorkers whose every day goal is life at home and in the community. www.hcanys.org.

Founded in 1961, the New York Association of Homes & Services for the Aging (NYAHSA) is the only statewide association that represents the full range of not-for-profit, mission-driven and public continuing care providers, including home care agencies and other community services providers, senior housing, adult care facilities, assisted living, continuing care retirement communities, managed long term care programs and nursing homes. NYAHSA's 500+ members employ 150,000 professionals serving more than 500,000 New Yorkers annually. www.nyahsa.org.