Hospice

(Use link HERE to send grassroots message [email and/or tweet] to your member of Congress expressing opposition to a hospice cap cut in year-end bill)

Good afternoon,

Hope all are on the cusp of what will be a peaceful holiday. I am writing today to ask that you consider engaging with your members of Congress to express your opposition to a major hospice payment cap cut being included in any end-of-year legislative package that is being negotiated. NAHC has reason to believe that a cap-cut is being considered as a payment "offset" for the forthcoming large package, meaning any savings associated with it would be likely used to pay for non-hospice policies. Not only is the cap cut itself a very complex policy that we believe will make it harder for hospices to serve certain patient populations, but we of course strongly oppose any cuts from hospice being used as a "piggybank" for Congress to pay for things that will not improve hospice patient care or indeed, involve the hospice benefit at all. 

NAHC, in partnership with NHPCO and LeadingAge, has sent a letter to congressional leadership and key staffers opposing a cap cut (see attached). With NHPCO, we have also put together a helpful background 2-pager on the issue, explaining why it is a misplaced policy that will have negative impacts on care access, especially for those facing Alzheimer's Disease and related dementias (ADRD) (also attached).

We strongly urge NAHC members to reach out to your congressional delegations to register your opposition to this proposal to drastically reduce the cap. Direct calls and meetings, if you are able to secure them, are always most effective. However, we encourage everyone to utilize the NAHC digital grassroots platform to send your members of Congress a message and/or tweet on this issue. Access to that platform can be found by clicking here: Ask Congress to Reject Efforts to Reduce the Hospice Aggregate Cap in an End-of-Year Bill!    

Please reach out to me at dbaird@nahc.org if you have questions. Thanks for all you do - NAHC is extremely grateful for your work everyday on behalf of patients and families.

-Davis

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Davis Baird
Director of Government Affairs, Hospice
National Association for Home Care & Hospice
Washington DC
(202) 547-7424
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(Use link HERE to send grassroots message [email and/or tweet] to your member of Congress expressing opposition to a hospice cap cut in year-end bill)

Good afternoon everyone,

I am following-up on my last message right before the holiday to once again encourage you to activate your grassroots muscles and reach out to your congressional delegations to ask that they not make major cuts to the hospice aggregate cap in any end-of-year legislative package being negotiated. We at NAHC are working hard to fight any proposal to cut hospice from gaining momentum, but we need your help as important constituents. The easiest thing you can do right now is use NAHC's online grassroots campaign page (click HERE) to send your Senators and Representatives an email message and/or tweet asking them to oppose a cut. It is always most impactful if you can personalize the pre-filled message language to talk about local impact. If you have good relationships with your members of congress' staff, please also consider reaching out to them directly to register your opposition.

I am re-attaching a 2-pager background document that NAHC has prepared in partnership with NHPCO. This document should help ground you in the issue and support any advocacy you may be able to engage in. We are also running a NAHC Report article on this issue today, which can be found HERE.

Thanks so much for your help with this effort – and thanks as always for the work you are doing in your communities. Please don't hesitate to reach out to me if you have any questions.

-Davis

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Davis Baird
Director of Government Affairs, Hospice
National Association for Home Care & Hospice
Washington DC
(202) 547-7424
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