Connecticut Legislature Begins 2023 Session with Home Care on Agenda

​Last Wednesday, the Connecticut General Assembly convened it’s 2023 session. Governor Lamont will propose a two-year budget and lawmakers are expected to tackle a number of major issues, including home care.
 
The HCAOA Connecticut Chapter has remained busy monitoring or participating in policies and programs affecting the home care industry, including the following.

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• The historic inauguration and swearing in of the Governor, constitutional officers, and 182 lawmakers on January 4, began with pomp and circumstance, continued with a celebratory inaugural ball, and ended on a tragic note. Popular state representative and Labor Committee chairman Quentin ‘Q’ Williams, D-Middletown, was killed by a wrong-way driver on his way home from the inaugural ball.
• On Monday, members of the Homemaker Companion Task Force reviewed a draft of its final report and prioritized recommendations to the legislature. The task force recommended that oversight and regulation of HCAs be transitioned from the Department of Consumer Protection to the Department of Public Health. The report will be considered by the legislature and any legislation implementing the recommendations will be subject to a public hearing and approval.
  Thank you to Task Force and HCAOA members Maria Cerino, Owner of Seniors Helping Seniors in Mystic, and Michael Savoie, Director of Business Development for Executive Home Care in Stratford, for all their work on the task force and support of the home care industry!
• On March 1, the HCAOA Connecticut Chapter is hosting a virtual Lunch and Learn on the Homemaker Companion Task Force Findings featuring Task Force Co-Chair Anne Foley, who will discuss findings and next steps for policy changes. Register to attend by clicking here.
• New leaders of the Connecticut Chapter have been named following the sad and unexpected death of Chairman Mark McGoldrick shortly before Christmas. Marlene Chickerella, Owner of B&M Homemaking and Companion Services in West Haven, will chair the Chapter; Jonah Francis, President of Pansy Homecare Service in West Hartford, will serve as vice chairman of the Chapter and lead the legislative and public policy committee; and Mario D’Aquila, Chief Operating Officer of Assisted Living Services in Cheshire, will chair the DSS Medicaid committee. HCAOA congratulates and thanks these new leaders for their dedicated service to the Chapter and support of the industry!
• Chapter priorities for public policy and legislation have been set. They include advocating for the home care industry by supporting reasonable and practical recommendations of the Homemaker Companion Task Force; supporting industry standards—like licensure—that improve the delivery of in-home care to clients; increasing Medicaid reimbursement rates; and addressing the caregiver shortage.
• The Governor announced last month that DCP Commissioner Michelle Seagull plans to step down from her position early this year to pursue other professional opportunities.
• Last month, almost 50 people attended the HCAOA Connecticut Chapter webinar, CONNIE 101 for Medicaid Home Care Providers: How the State Will Oversee Quality Metrics and Benchmarks for Value-Based Payments (See attached PDF of the Introduction to CONNIE PPT), which HCAOA co-sponsored with CT Association for Healthcare at Home. CONNIE, Connecticut’s health information exchange, is supporting DSS’s Medicaid HCBS program to track value-based care outcomes by providing a platform for program participants to coordinate patient/client care.