Issue link: http://southshoremagazine.uberflip.com/i/1522957
8 Commercial payers and Medicare Advantage plans continue to undervalue home care and hospice. With the current Medicare Advantage crisis denying care to seniors, home care – the often- seen solution to the national healthcare system – is at its lowest level of providers in over a decade. "Non-profit providers of hospice and home care are simply teetering on collapse," Renee McInnes, CEO, NVNA and Hospice points out. "There needs to be a national mandate from our government that begins to invest in, and not cut, patient care funding. We recognize that as clinical leaders, we have a responsibility to provide care to everyone safely. But like every non-profit business, we also have a budget to meet and a payroll to fund." Since 2014, NVNA and Hospice has raised over $20 million in patient care funding. "As a Board, our commitment to philanthropy has been strong and consistent because our community recognizes the value of these non-profit services," notes Karen Mullaney, Chair, NVNA and Hospice Board of Directors. "Comprehensive fundraising is allowing us to expand when other clinical providers are retreating." From 2023, NVNA and Hospice remains the only regional provider of primary palliative care in the home. The serious illness demographic comprises the largest growing segment of their clinical platform. Nationally, NVNA and Hospice is seeing home care and hospice agencies limiting services and, in many cases, closing doors. The eroding payer structure that is forcing this revolutionary shift in patient care access has been in play for a decade. Leaders in this storied clinical space have consistently outlined the crisis and have witnessed the cascading effects of limiting and denying patient care.