Action Alert: HCAC Urges A 'No' Vote on SB19-238 -- It's In Senate Committee On Thursday At 1:30 PM

To Colorado home-care agencies --

SB19-238 was introduced late last week. If passed, it requires agencies in HCBS programs to direct a large majority of their Medicaid receipts to caregiver compensation. It also requires the state to maintain a registry of personal-care workers that caregivers and agency owners alike say is personally invasive and unnecessary.

The Home Care Association of Colorado believes this legislation will be EXTREMELY DETRIMENTAL to caregivers, clients and home-care agencies participating in the HCBS program. We urge all of our members and non-members -- whether participating in HCBS or not -- to WRITE or CALL their senators and representatives IMMEDIATELY to please VOTE NO on this pending legislation.

We also ask that you WRITE or CALL your legislators in the districts in which you live AND the districts in which your business is based. If you don't know your senators and representatives, you can look them up by your address here: https://leg.colorado.gov/find-my-legislator

Below my signature line is language that you may personalize to communicate your opposition to this legislation.

HCAC TOWN HALL UPDATE: We are not having our planned Town Hall in Aurora, also scheduled for Thursday 4/18/19. We instead ask you to convene in in the state Legislative Services Building, 200 E 14th Ave, Denver, CO 80203, to give testimony in Hearing Room B about how this legislation would affect your patients, your caregivers and your agencies. This building is immediately south of the Colorado Capitol. Street parking is limited, so please make plans to arrive early or commute in groups. 

Thank you,

Don Knox, [email protected]
Executive Director
Home Care Association of Colorado

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POINTS TO MAKE ABOUT HOME CARE ACCESS AND AGENCY VIABILITY

Dear (Senator or Representative):

I'm writing about SB19-238, which would direct a large percentage of all home-care agency Medicaid reimbursement to caregiver wages.

Home Care keeps people in the home, increasing the quality of life and saving the system money. Personal care and home maker services includes meal preparation & feeding; bowel and bladder care; bathing, dressing and grooming (shaving, nail, skin & hair care); cleaning, dusting, mopping, vacuuming; dish washing & laundry; and grocery shopping.

This is hard work and workers doing this work deserve higher wages. It is illegal for any provider to bill a Medicaid client, and without appropriate reimbursement (currently $18.44/hour), agencies will not be able to provide increased wages and maintain services for clients.

Mandating a large percent of all Medicaid reimbursement to caregiver wages is not economically viable due to Colorado Medicaid reimbursement levels and the cost of running a home care business. For example, new federal requirements will cost an agency $3,000-$4,000 per month on average.

Please vote NO on SB19-238. It hurts Medicaid patients and the caregivers and agencies that care for them.

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WHEN WRITING ABOUT PRIVACY CONCERNS

Dear (Senator or Representative)

I'm writing about SB19-238, which would require home-care agencies to submit the names of their personal-care workers to the state for dissemination to the public.

Agencies and caregivers alike are concerned with the collection and distribution of information that would be available to ANYONE. This includes caregivers' mailing addresses, physical addresses, cell-phone numbers, and email addresses.

Under the bill as drafted, there are few ways for an employee to be exempted from the registry and the employee would have to petition their employer to provide the exemption. The exceptions in the bill for victims of domestic violence and harassment do not go far enough. There are many different reasons a workforce that is majority women and foreign-born would not like to have personal information on a publicly available registry. Also:

  • The exemption would require workers who have experienced domestic violence or sexual assault to disclose this information to their employers when they would like to keep information private.
  • Even if there was an opt out of having their personal information shared with other entities, it is necessary for caregivers to take specific action to do so.
  • There is no way to get off the registry once someone is on: including a move out of state, privacy concerns or something that would prevent them from working in home care moving forward.

Please vote NO on SB19-238. It hurts Medicaid patients and the caregivers and agencies that care for them.