This week the Texas House Appropriations Committee met both Wednesday and Thursday to discuss spending on Medicaid long term services and supports. Executive Director Rachel Hammon was invited to give testimony on Wednesday and discussed current problems with reimbursement for community care providers.
“Many of the costs of doing business today are not reflected in the cost report, such as the costs of providing employer mandated health insurance, EVV costs and the increased operational costs of providing services in managed care,” said Ms. Hammon during the hearing. “The cost reporting system for LTSS is an important and objective way to gain actuarially sound data that takes into account access to care. It does however require updating and improvements to reflect the costs of doing business in today’s health care environment.”
TAHC&H Executive Director Rachel Hammon (left) giving testimony and recommendations to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Article II chaired by Representative Four Price (R- Amarillo, right) on Wednesday.
Several TAHC&H members travelled long distances on Thursday to draw attention to funding for community care services. These home care agencies spoke about several challenges that need to be addressed by the Appropriations Committee including increased funding to support EVV compliance and the costs associated with the Affordable Care Act employer mandate.
Special thanks to our members who did a wonderful job testifying. Steve Abshier of Outreach Health Services cleared his schedule to drive from Dallas to talk about community care. He shared specific data from his business related to the cost of implementing EVV, as well as statistics about the turnover rates in his agency due to inadequate attendant wages. The Appropriations Committee members appeared to appreciate the dollars-and-cents examples of costs not being reimbursed by Texas Medicaid.
Paul and Linda Smith of En Su Casa Caregivers in San Antonio also travelled to Austin to speak on behalf of the industry. They too gave excellent examples of how a medium-sized agency is having difficulty finding room within the low reimbursement rates from the state to cope with insurance requirements under the ACA. The Smiths also spoke about the struggle to hire qualified and experienced attendants at a wage that is lower than most fast food restaurants.
Steve Abshier of Outreach Health Services (far left) and Paul Smith of En Su Casa Caregivers (right) at the Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on Thursday in Austin.
To hear the conversation and testimony from TAHC&H and its members, including comments from the Health and Human Services Commission, watch the archived video of Rachel Hammon online
here at minutes 5:32:00 and Steve Abshier & Paul Smith
here at minutes 42:45 and 1:28:00.
Home care providers are facing a crisis in the health and sustainability of their businesses as they shoulder more and more of the administrative and cost-saving initiatives imposed by the state. Supporting a strained business has consequences to quality of care for our Medicare beneficiaries as we cannot afford to hire and train skilled attendants. The Legislature must fully commit to making these programs a success for our aged and disabled citizens by appropriating the needed funding.