Awsome result from the AHA meeting!
Bruce sent me this e-mail about the meeting with the AHA that he attended in Washington, DC. This is awsome!
From Bruce:
I have attended a lot of follow up meetings. Sometimes we have had to wade through a lot of process and blah blah blah before we see results, but this was different. Before we even showed up for today’s meeting with the American Hospital Association, they had already sent out letters to Senator Harkin and Representative Davis stating that they support the Community Choice Act!
The AHA staff took our action very seriously and more importantly took action themselves… and they did so right away. You can really see the power of ADAPT!
At today’s meeting, the AHA also agreed to provide their state affiliates information about the Olmstead decision and Money Follows the Person and ask those affiliates to report back on their involvement with Olmstead planning at the state level. Once they have that information, they will work with us to develop “next steps.”
Until then, they are working with ADAPT to prepare an article for their bi-weekly publication that would explain our concerns regarding discharge planning and highlight some best practices that promote people living in their own homes. This would be distributed to about 20,000 people, including Capital Hill. They also agreed that ADAPT should have an opportunity to present to their members, but they want to consider the best place for that to happen. They really wanted to make sure that that actual discharge planners got the message. They were clearly moved by the personal stories we shared and seemed to want to make this a real partnership.
We need to make sure our local people hear what a powerful impact they had on the AHA.
It was a great action and got great results!
FREE OUR PEOPLE!
Bruce Darling
The AHA letters read as follows:
On behalf of the American Hospital Association (AHA), and our nearly 5,000 member hospitals and health care systems, and our 37,000 individual members, I am writing to express our support for your bipartisan legislation, the Community Choice Act of 2007, S 799/HR 1621.
America’s hospitals are committed to providing quality care to the patients and communities they serve. Part of that commitment means providing each patient with the right care at the right time in the right setting. Hospitals understand that for some patients, the best place for a patient to receive care is not in a hospital or long-term care facility such as a nursing home. Rather, the best place for a patient to receive care may be in their own home, in their own neighborhood where they can be among family and friends.
The Community Choice Act of 2007 looks to make important changes in how long-term care is delivered with state Medicaid programs by giving patients more choice for care than an institutional setting. The proposed demonstration projects could give new insights into the best ways to provide community-based health care. The AHA supports the important reforms for the Medicaid program that The Community Choice Act of 2007 promotes. Programs to allow certain patients to remain in their homes with personal care services could benefit many and help hospitals keep their commitment of providing the right care for each patient.
We look forward to working with you on this important matter. Please contact Megan Cudari at (202) 626-2268 if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Rick Pollack
Executive Vice President