Executive Corner
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 17th century French philosopher Francois de la Rochefoucauld stated "The only thing that is constant is change." In a speech to the British House of Commons, Winston Churchill later stated, "To improve is to change, so to be perfect is to change often." These observations set forth the concept that the pursuit of excellence is marked by the ability to readily adapt to a changing environment. HCAOA is familiar with change. In the previous year, we officially changed our name from the former National Private Duty Association, launched a new website, and developed a new membership database to help streamline our membership application and renewal processes.
Since I started in early January as the HCAOA Executive Director, we moved our headquarters from Indianapolis, IN, to Washington, DC. This change represents a renewed commitment by HCAOA to serve as the exclusive voice for the private duty home care industry and advocate on behalf of providers and the clients they serve. In the coming months, we anticipate additional changes as we refocus efforts to develop our leadership role in the political arena, both at the federal and state levels. We will continue to build the necessary infrastructure to provide high level benefits and services to the HCAOA membership. Thank you for your support and commitment to this effort.
In this issue of The Voice, our feature article focuses on our latest public policy advocacy efforts including an invitation to participate in an upcoming Congressional Fly-in event. You will also find information on our plans for the 2014 Annual Leadership Conference and ongoing webinar schedule.
Phil Bongiorno
Executive Director
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Featured Article
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Gale Bohling
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Advocacy: Raising the Volume of Home Care Voices By: Gale Bohling, Legislative Committee Chair
Recently, the HCAOA Board of Directors met to set a course for the association's federal and state advocacy efforts. In 2013, our federal advocacy priorities were: 1) the Employer Mandate under the ACA; 2) Misclassification of Workers; 3) and the DOL Rule change to the Companionship Exemption. Concerning the companion care exemption for third-party employers, while the home care community was unsuccessful in preserving this exemption, HCAOA and its partner organizations were successful in holding off this change for many years, as the final rule will not take effect until January 1, 2015.
2014 Advocacy Agenda
The Board of Directors approved a plan to move forward aggressively to 1) support and advance legislation to address unworkable employer provisions of the Affordable Care Act; 2) support and advance federal legislation to amend the FLSA and tax code to address misclassification of home care workers; 3) investigate improvements to the tax code, including potential federal tax credit legislation, to assist with the cost of home care services; and 4) to continue working with the companionship exemption partner group to attempt to remedy the FLSA final rule through potential legal action and/or legislation.
On the state level, many HCAOA chapters are already engaged in efforts to oppose legislation that would limit home care providers ability to maintain high quality services. In 2013, and now in 2014, we continue to work with states facing domestic worker legislation that raises cost of care but does not improve service. We continue to address licensure bills to ensure that the focus is on quality. Licensure can be a means of ensuring the highest quality of care is provided to clients. Finally, we are addressing the California ballot initiative which is intended to define cost of care vs administrative support at a 75 to 25 ratio. We have given focus to these state issues due to their national implications to our industry.
HCAOA will be developing and disseminating resources that members can use, building upon legislative/regulatory experiences of the chapters. Further, HCAOA will be assisting chapters and members who are eager to make a commitment to HCAOA state and federal advocacy efforts. We are especially appreciative of those chapter members who have participated in our monthly Legislative Committee calls. They have been the heartbeat for our organization on state and federal legislative issues.
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Public Policy News
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U.S. House Seeks to Move ACA Legislation Redefining Full-Time Employee
It appears the U.S. House of Representative has given into incremental change to address its concerns with the Affordable Care Act (ACA). On February 4th, the House Ways and Means Committee held a markup session to consider the "Save American Workers Act" (H.R.2575). The bill would change the current standard in the ACA law for full-time employee from someone who works 30 hours to 40 hours per week. H.R.2575 was reported out favorably on a largely party line vote. During the month of March the House of Representatives is expected to vote on passage of the bill.
The HCAOA has endorsed this legislation as well as other bills that seek to address the definition of full time employee. You can find out more information on this legislation here.
HCAOA Sends Letter to CA Attorney General Raising Concerns over Ballot Initiative
In a letter, dated February 10, 2014, the law firm of Littler Mendelson, PC wrote to California Attorney General Kamala Harris on behalf of the HCAOA regarding California Proposed Initiative 13-0064. In the letter, HCAOA requested that Attorney General Harris decline issuing the Title and Summary for Proposed Initiative 13-0064 and take all legal steps necessary to ensure that the initiative is never circulated. Proposed Initiative 13-0064 would require home care organizations, including HCAOA members, to expend at least 75 percent of their total annual home care service revenues on direct home care service costs assisting seniors and individuals with disabilities. "Direct home care services" are defined as wages and benefits, payroll taxes, workers compensation and unemployment insurance premiums, recruiting, training, orientation and background checks for all home care aides and care managers. All other costs are defined as "administrative overhead costs." Home care organizations face civil penalties between $1,000 and $10,000 annually for each violation of this initiative. The initiative allows relaxed injunctive relief standards for suspected violations and plaintiff attorney's fees. If an organization is in violation of the 75/25 percent ratio, the initiative requires the Department of Social Services to revoke the organization's license. Proponents must gather 504,760 valid signatures for the measure to qualify for the ballot.
HCAOA holds that the initiative is unconstitutional, unlawful and part of a systematic campaign by the Service Employees International Union (''SEIU'') to pressure home care employers to provide assistance to the SEIU in the unionization of their employees. The SEIU filed the retaliatory initiative as part of its long-term political advocacy campaign to drive home care service organizations out of business.
HCAOA was disappointed that the Attorney General issued Initiative 13-0064 on February 18th and the California Secretary of State subsequently cleared the initiative for circulation allowing for the process of collecting the required signatures to begin.
The HCAOA is currently preparing a response to this initiative and will be providing members with additional information in the near future.
Congressional Lobby Day Fly-in
We invite you to participate in the upcoming HCAOA Congressional Lobby Day scheduled for May 20-21, 2014. The program will begin on the afternoon of Tuesday, May 20th, allowing time for travel on the same day. The schedule will include issue briefings and presentations in preparation for congressional Hill visits scheduled for May 21. Please call the Marriott Metro Center at (800)393-2510 and reference the HCAOA Fly In Meeting. Please make your reservations by April 28. We cannot emphasize enough the value of having HCAOA members participate in this event. As you know, this activity is vital to our overall advocacy efforts. Considering this is the first Congressional Lobby Day event scheduled since moving to our new headquarters in Washington, DC, it would be great to show our strength in numbers with a high turnout of HCAOA members, further reinforcing our renewed commitment to advocacy on behalf of the home care industry. We hope you can join us!
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Member News
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New Headquarters
 | | New sign installed outside the new HCAOA headquarters office in Washington, DC. |
As we continue the transition to Washington, DC, from Indianapolis, please bear with us as we work to process a backlog of membership application/renewals.
Please contact membership@homecareaoa.org if you have any questions in the meantime.
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The 2014 Annual Leadership Conference will take place on October 12-15 in Kansas City, MO. Our conference provides sessions that appeal to the seasoned homecare business professional as well as those new to the industry.
Please save the date and look for more details coming soon.
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The HCAOA invites you to share your knowledge, experience and expertise with our members at the 2014 Annual Leadership Conference on October 12-15 in Kansas City, MO.
Presenters will receive one free night at the hotel and registration to the conference including all meals provided with the conference registration. Please click on the speaker proposal form(s) below to learn more on the content/theme of the 2014 Conference as well as the submission process.
If you know of a speaker/presenter that may be interested in submitting a proposal, please feel free to share this information as you see fit. All proposals must be submitted to the HCAOA no later than Friday, April 4, 2014. Proposals will be reviewed by our Conference Committee and presenters will be notified by May 15, 2014 of the presentation status.
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Home Care Pulse Survey Extended
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| Home Care Pulse has extended the deadline of the "2014 Private Duty Benchmarking Survey", due to weather related issues home care owners throughout the Unites States have faced over the past few weeks. Home Care Pulse is continuing to receive calls from home care owners who have been affected by the storms and are asking for additional time to gather the information and complete the survey. To accommodate these requests, Home Care Pulse is extending the participation deadline until Sunday, March 23rd.
If you haven't yet participated, please visit www.benchmarking.homecarepulse.com to download the prep worksheet and take the survey. If you have already taken the survey, thank you! Please be sure to participate by Sunday, March 23rd at www.benchmarking.homecarepulse.com.
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Upcoming Webinar Schedule
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Building Retention and Client Satisfaction: Step 2
3/19/2014
Time: 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. EST
Caregiving in the Digital Age: Finding a Quality Referral Site Online (Part 1)
3/26/2014
Time: 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. EST
Building Retention and Client Satisfaction: Step 3
4/16/2014
Time: 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. EST
Caregiving in the Digital Age: Finding a Quality Referral Site Online (Part 2) 4/24/2014 Time: 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. EST |
Premium Associates of the Month
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Welcome to the Newest Members of HCAOA
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INDECARE Corporation
| Comfort Keepers #943 | |
Comfort Home Care - W. Contra Costa
| Angels On Call Home Care | | 90210 Love & Care, Inc. | A Helping Hand Homecare | | Senior Assist of the Peninsula | Family Home Care | | Companions Forever LLC | PROMEDCARE | |
Silver Tree Homecare
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Home Care Association of America
412 First Street SE
Suite 3
Washington, DC 20003
202.480.2972
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