HCAOA - Bring the Vote Home - Home Care Association of America

National Campaign to Invite Lawmakers into Home Care Clients' Homes

Members of Congress who vote on legislation that impacts our industry, our businesses and our clients’ lives oftentimes have little understanding of the value that home care provides to millions of older Americans and people with disabilities. The national Bring the Vote Home campaign is designed to provide critical information to lawmakers by inviting them into the homes of our clients (their constituents!) to learn first-hand how home care makes such a profound difference in the lives of those who rely on it.

Bring the Vote Home will shed light on issues impacting our industry and the needs of this country’s growing aging population, including:

Medicaid HCBS reimbursement and minimum wage requirements
Keeping home care affordable for family-funded home care
Demonstrating the value of home care
Addressing home care’s workforce shortage

IMPORTANT NOTE: This is a NON-PARTISAN, INFORMATIONAL effort to ensure members of Congress understand the needs of this country’s growing elderly population and their desire to stay at home as they age. ALL candidates and members of Congress may be invited on a home visit.

How It Works

Contact your members of Congress (U.S. Senator and/or Representative) to invite them into to the home of a client (their constituent!). We know how busy you are, so we are providing all the tools you need.

Invite Lawmakers

Invite your Senator and/or Representative to come on a home visit with a client. To find your elected member of Congress, click here and type in your (or your client’s) home address. Call or email their district office to extend the invite.

To find out who is currently running for Congress in your district, click here. To invite candidates, you will need to contact their campaign. Try searching on the web for "campaign website for [name]" and add the name of the candidate you want to invite. There will be a “contact us” section on their website.

Not sure what to say? You can use this script to guide the conversation. Remember to be flexible with the date and time of the visit because during election season, candidates and legislators are extremely busy! However, make certain the date and time suits your client. For example: don’t schedule the visit too early, because that might place a burden on the caregiver. Don’t schedule the visit at 12:30 p.m., because that might be when the client’s favorite TV show airs. Remember, we are visitors in our clients’ homes. We want this experience to be enjoyable and memorable, not something that is stressful.

Prepare for the Visit

Once the staff/legislator has agreed to a visit, here is a checklist to prepare:

Have the client/representative sign a permission and photo release form.
Provide the legislator will background information on the client/constituent and family. Make certain to include any background on the family, such as a daughter who happens to be the school superintendent, or a father of a local council woman, etc. Also, are there any pets in the house? Where will the visit take place? Outside on porch, in a living room, at the kitchen table?
Make sure you provide an advanced copy of HCAOA’s “State of Home Care: Industry at a Crossroads” report to the legislator. Email [email protected] to order hard copies.
Send background information on the legislator to your client and family.
Send a confirmation email to the legislator’s staff indicating the date/time and address of the client/constituent.
Determine who from your organization will be part of this visit. The most important people to include are the home care aide, the client and a member of their family, and the owner/director of the home care agency. Make certain to keep the group small. Think of this as a small group of visitors coming to see the client.
Designate one person to begin the conversation. A sample of how the visit discussion should go is provided here.

Timeline

The timeframe for the Bring the Vote Home campaign is July to November 2022.

Discussion Guide

Talking points for the visit can include the following:

Differentiate Home Care from Home Health and Hospice
Why the client needs our care: (Stroke, ADLs) and how many hours of care are provided
Paying for Care: Not Medicare. Must be family-funded or Medicaid, if income eligibility is met
Home Care Aide: Trained and vetted and supervised
Ask client/family to discuss why they contacted the agency and what they like about home care
Ask home care aide to talk about why she/he entered this profession.

For your discussion, print this one pager, which explains HCAOA’s six priority areas as outlined in our Industry at a Crossroads report:

Establish national standards of care (bringing licensure to all 50 states)
Collect and use data to highlight the importance of home care
Make home care a part of the healthcare ecosystem
Support caregivers
Finance home care in an era of rising longevity
Address immigration to ensure we have the caregivers we need

Follow Up

After the visit, these tasks are just as important as what you did to prepare:

Have your client send a thank you note to the legislator
Send a thank you note to your client and their family for inviting us into their home to speak with the legislator.
Sending flowers or providing a delivered lunch to the client and home care aide is also a nice touch!