Home care associations unite in common cause

Groups meet for first time

For the first time in their history, leaders of home health care’s four main trade associations met to form a plan of action to boost the industry’s sagging public image with the U.S. Congress and to deal with interim payment issues raised by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997.

In late September, representatives from the National Association for Home Care (NAHC), the American Federation of Home Health Agencies (AFHHA), the Home Care Association of America (HCAA), and the Home Health Services and Staffing Association (HSSA) gathered at AFHHA headquarters in Silver Spring, MD. Representatives met for about three hours to discuss their common goals, according to AFHHA communications director Rob Raible. A second meeting was scheduled for late October.

Attending the summit were AFHHA’s executive director Ann Howard and treasurer Ted Sleight; NAHC’s government affairs representative Eric Sokol; HCAA director Scott Lara; and Mara Benner, head of HSSA.

"There were basically two tracks," Raible reports; "one, to discuss the interim payment laws of the Balanced Budget Act, and two, to do something about the abysmal public relations problem we have."

Calling the summit meeting a grass-roots effort to show Congress the good side of home care, Raible disclosed that the groups intend to hire a public relations firm to assist in improving the home health industry’s image. The groups also agreed to develop an advertising campaign, either for radio, television, or print.

"One area might be certain targeted newspapers," Raible said.

Raible stressed the summit was not designed to debate differences, but to put differences aside and form a united home care front to face the future.