As Memorial Day approaches, HCAOA is sharing different ways members have honored veterans in their local communities. Several years ago HCAOA member Kelly Chambers, owner of Visiting Angels - Tacoma, did a presentation about her involvement with Honor Flight - the non-profit organization that takes veterans to see the Washington, D.C. memorials. HCAOA member Gail Lohmann, owner of Visiting Angels - Gold Country, learned about this opportunity and sought to create a similar event - naming it the Mission to Honor Veterans.
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HCAOA’s Veterans Affairs Advisory Council held a productive meeting last week with leadership at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the CEO of TriWest Healthcare Alliance. Many members have a contract with TriWest to provide home care to veterans in the western U.S. through the VA Community Care Network (VACCN). The meeting is part of a series of advocacy meetings the Council is having with the VA and its contractors to improve member experiences with providing care to veterans. HCAOA’s Veterans Affairs Advisory Council has been working diligently for the past several months to address and resolve many challenges home care agencies face in working with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. One of the recent victories for the Council is an offer by leading officials at the VA to request Optum and TriWest to resolve applications that are mired in the contractor credentialing processes. Is your organization experiencing lengthy delays in being approved or denied? 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. Last week, the HCAOA VA Advisory Council met with a senior leadership team from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. VA officials acknowledged receipt of a chart of issues that the Council sent to the Department earlier in March as well as the Senate and House Veterans Affairs Committees. The chart outlines challenges that providers face working in the VA Community Care Network. 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. Yesterday, HCAOA’s Veterans Services Council sent letters to officials at the Department of Veteran Affairs and Congressional oversight committees, reiterating our industry’s commitment to providing home care to our country’s veterans and relaying the challenges members are facing in providing that care. 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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