​HCAOA is a proud member of the Clear2Connect Coalition, which is comprised of disability advocacy and Veterans Service Organizations, and advocates on behalf of the deaf and hard of hearing communities to have access to quality, accurate communication technology. The Coalition recently worked with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to publish a blog post educating about captioned telephone service as an assistive technology option to facilitate access to communication.

​​On Wednesday, March 24, President Joe Biden signed into law H.R. 1276, the “Strengthening and Amplifying Vaccination Efforts to Locally Immunize All Veterans and Every Spouse Act” or the SAVE LIVES Act, which expands Veterans Administration authority to provide COVID-19 vaccinations to veterans, their families, and their caregivers.

​Realizing the desire of HCAOA members to provide care to our nation’s veterans, HCAOA recently created the VA Advisory Services Council to advocate to VA and its contractors for efficient processes for provider enrollment, billing and referrals. The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs Office of Community Care started implementing a new VA Community Care Network (VACCN) of providers in 2018 as directed by the VA Mission Act. Optum Federal Health Services was contracted to build a provider network in the eastern U.S. (CCN Regions 1, 2 and 3) and Triwest Health Net was contracted to build the provider network in the western U.S. (Regions 4 and 5).

Hundreds of home care agencies provide in-home care to our veterans and HCAOA pledges to support members’ efforts.

​Recently, the Veteran’s Administration issued a new fee schedule for the Community Care program. These new fees are effective October 1, 2020.

On a related note, HCAOA is meeting with Dr. Mark Upton, Deputy Assistant Under Secretary for Health for Community Care, to discuss challenges home care providers are experiencing in providing home care to our veterans. Network access, fee schedule and referrals will be the primary focus of this initial discussion. A report on the meeting will be included in next week’s newsletter.  

HCAOA Executive Director Vicki Hoak recently met with Kathleen Sobero, Director of Provider Operations, TriWest Healthcare Alliance, to discuss members’ issues relating to provider enrollment and payment related to the Veterans Administration Homemaker and Home Health Program.
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