Tune In and Tweet Tomorrow for the Health Reform Summit

Tomorrow's Health Reform Summit convened by President Obama will once again bring Health Care Reform to the political forefront and could possibly pave the path forward for the reform effort for the rest of the year. As Hospice Advocates know, the legislative effort toward national health reform has slowed significantly since the political dynamics in the Senate changed with the election of Scott Brown (R-MA).

If health reform regains momentum, the hospice community faces monumental changes in the current reform drafts passed by the House and Senate. While we can't expect the President's Summit to get into the details of how reform would impact end-of-life care, it is important that we understand where the political dynamics are driving the process and what the President and Congress put forth as guiding principles for the effort.

You can witness the bipartisan summit from your television or computer on Thursday, February 25 at 10 a.m. Eastern.

Just tune in to C-SPAN 3 or visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/live to watch Members of Congress and the President have a dialogue on health reform and see how the summit will influence the issue in the coming months. As you watch, share your thoughts with us on Twitter @hospiceaction. Your tweets help us shape our advocacy efforts here in Washington.

For more information on hospice and health reform, visit NHPCO's Health Reform Resource Center.

New to twitter? Email han@nhpco.org for help.

As always, thanks for your Hospice Advocacy!

For more information visit, http://www.nhpco.org

The Latest News on Hospice & Health Care Reform

As Congress prepares to depart Washington for the July 4th District Work Period, health care reform activities refuse to wind down. Higher than expected cost estimates by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) sent Washington into a flurry of activity over the past few weeks, as stakeholders try to rein in the price tag associated with the reform effort. Here’s what’s been going on:

The President
President Obama continues to reiterate his two goals for the overhaul – reducing overall health care costs and covering the uninsured. At the same time, the President has demanded that larger members of the health sector come up with their own savings to pay for the plan, and the pharmaceutical industry responded this week with $80 billion over 10 years.

Senate Activity
The mark-up of the proposal drafted by the Senate Finance Committee, the committee which was previously out in front on health care reform, has stalled due to the lack of a bipartisan consensus. Chairman Max Baucus and the committee staff continue to work around the clock to refine their bill to gain support on both sides of the aisle.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee was been holding a week-long marathon of a mark-up on its proposal. NHPCO has been asked by Committee staff to comment on proposed amendments that would expand efforts to increase utilization of Advance Directives. This mark-up is expected to continue through the week, and may need to reconvene after next week’s District Work Period.

House Activity
Late last week, the committees of jurisdiction in the House of Representatives released a nearly 900-page draft of the House health care reform proposal. Buried in that draft document is a reduction in the productivity factor, which amounts to an across-the-board rate reduction for all Medicare providers. This is an early draft of one Chamber’s proposal, and we don’t know whether it will come out in the final package. We are still combing through the hefty document to determine if there are other provisions that might impact hospice.
The Ways & Means Committee continues its hearings on health care reform this week, and is expected to begin mark-up of the proposal after the District Work Period. The Energy & Commerce Committee heard testimony from Department of Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius this week and also continues hearings on health care reform.

NHPCO
ABC News hosted a Healthcare Reform Town Hall Meeting on June 24, at the White House. The program was moderated by Diane Sawyer and Charlie Gibson and featured a cross section of Americans asking President Obama questions about healthcare issues as they relate to their personal needs. NHPCO provided information on end-of-life care to ABC News producers, and helped the news team covering this town hall meeting to find additional professional contacts in the field.
NHPCO and the Alliance for Care at the End of Life continue to be in contact with the key Committees of jurisdiction, and try to advance end-of-life care proposals that would pave the pave the way for modernizing the Medicare Hospice Benefit in the future. Check out of the proposals endorsed by NHPCO in recent weeks.
Please stay tuned for future health care reform updates. The President continues to push for passage of bill by the end of the summer and the coming weeks will be full of activity as the various Committees of jurisdiction try to meld their proposals together and pass their bills.

New Health Care Reform Resource Center
Please visit the new Hospice & Health Care Reform Resource Center. There, you can find our current and past updates on health care reform activities. You’ll also find what we are sending to the Hill on hospice and health care reform, and many other valuable resources.
Providers with questions may contact NHPCO's Public Policy Team at advocacy@nhpco.org.

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For more information visit, http://www.nhpco.org

Letter to President Obama

Hospice Community Urges President Obama to Stop Funding Cuts

Cuts Beginning October 1 Will Reduce Access to Care for Dying Americans

(Alexandria, VA) – Today, 3,524 hospice providers from across the country sent a letter to President Barack Obama urging him to stop cuts to the Medicare hospice benefit beginning on October 1, 2009.

The cuts threaten to jeopardize availability of the compassionate and high-quality care that 1.5 million patients and their family caregivers receive from hospice providers each year.

In addition to the letter, more than 500 providers of the hospice community submitted comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on how the cuts will cause them to decrease services, reduce staffing, and in some cases, close their programs.

This follows two Congressional letters sent to President Obama by 45 U.S. Senators and 171 U.S. Representatives, demonstrating that he has strong, bipartisan support to stop the cuts in hospice funding.

The cuts come from a 2008 federal rule that eliminates a component of the Medicare hospice benefit known as the budget neutrality adjustment factor (BNAF). Members of the hospice community have been calling and emailing the Administration requesting that implementation of this rule be stopped.

“The sheer number of hospice programs represented by this letter and those recently sent by Members of Congress should send a strong message to the White House about the urgency in stopping these cuts,” said J. Donald Schumacher, president and CEO of NHPCO.

Earlier this year, President Obama and Congress approved a moratorium on the hospice funding cuts that expires on September 30, 2009. Without further action, hospice reimbursements will drop by 3.1 percent, leaving hospice programs, particularly smaller and rural ones, facing cutbacks in services and possible closure.

Hospice is a proven Medicare cost saver. In 2007, an independent, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded study by Duke University found that hospice reduced Medicare costs by $2,300 per patient, saving more than $2 billion per year.

Hospice is also considered to be the model of high-quality care at the end of life. Research from NHPCO shows that 98 percent of families served by hospice are willing to recommend its care and services to others.

For more information about NHPCO’s efforts to protect hospice funding, please visit NHPCO’s Advocacy Web page at: nhpco.org/advocacy.

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Contact:Angie Truesdale

Ph: 703-647-5163

atruesdale@nhpco.org

Jon Radulovic

Ph: 703-837-3139

jradulovic@nhpco.org

For more information visit, http://www.nhpco.org

ABC News to Host White House Town Hall - NHPCO provides information

NHPCO Provides Information to ABC News in Preparation for White House Forum

To: NHPCO Membership
From: NHPCO Executive Office
Date: June 24, 2009

ABC News will be hosting a Healthcare Reform Town Hall Meeting this evening, June 24, at the White House. The program will be moderated by Diane Sawyer and Charlie Gibson and will feature a cross section of Americans asking President Obama questions about healthcare issues as they relate to their personal needs. NHPCO provided information on end-of-life care to ABC News producers and helped the news team working on this town hall meeting to find additional professional contacts in the field. A special thanks to our members who assisted with this effort.

While we don’t expect to hear from a hospice patient or family member in this town hall meeting, a good deal of content has been provided and the value of hospice has been expressed by the news team. We hope there will be further attention that focuses on the important work that we are all committed to. As providers of hospice and palliative care, we understand the importance of end-of-life care in healthcare provision and NHPCO is committed to making sure this critical topic is included in discussions of healthcare reform.

For those interested in this general town hall meeting, we encourage you to watch the program on your ABC affiliate station; the program is scheduled to be broadcast live at 10:00pm ET.

Thank you.

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For more information visit, http://www.nhpco.org

NHPCO President/CEO and Board Chair Visit to UK

NHPCO President/CEO and Board Chair Visit to UK Includes a Meeting with HRM Queen Elizabeth II at Help the Hospices Silver Jubilee

Alexandria, Va) – J. Donald Schumacher, president and CEO of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, and Gretchen Brown, chair of the NHPCO board of directors traveled to London on March 15 for a series of meetings with international hospice and palliative care organizations and providers. A highlight of the trip was the opportunity to meet Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh at a reception marking the 25th anniversary of Help the Hospices, the leading British charity supporting hospice care throughout the United Kingdom.

The celebration at St. James’s Palace in London on March 16 brought together 600 guests that included hospice founders, staff, and volunteers from hospice programs throughout the UK as well as hospice professionals from across the globe.

“We had the honor of being introduced to Queen Elizabeth and we spoke about the vital role that Dame Cicely Saunders played with her pioneering work at St. Christopher’s Hospice in London. The Queen asked about the breadth of hospice in the US and remarked on the challenges that national organizations, such as NHPCO, must face,” said Dr. Schumacher. “She was gracious, kind and obviously well informed about today’s hospice environment.”

In a press statement, David Praill, chief executive of Help the Hospices, said: “We are absolutely delighted to be celebrating this anniversary and the huge strides hospice care has made, while recognizing many challenges still lie ahead. This gives us a wonderful opportunity to say thank you to those who have helped and supported both our charity since our founding and also the development of hospice care in the UK and across the world.”

While abroad, Schumacher and Brown met with David Praill of Help the Hospices and discussed differences in structure between end-of-life care delivery in the US and the UK. A meeting with the leadership of the Worldwide Palliative Care Alliance on global palliative care issues also provided an opportunity to discuss the work being done by hospice and palliative care providers in the US.

In his role as president and CEO of the National Hospice Foundation, Schumacher was pleased to present the final report on the work and accomplishments of NHF's Diana Legacy Fund to staff at the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund. In 2005, a generous grant for $3.35 million was awarded by the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund in cooperation with the Franklin Mint and supported work of NHF, NHPCO, and the Foundation for Hospices in Sub-Saharan Africa.

“This visit was a strong reminder of how important the voice of US hospice and palliative care is on the international stage. More importantly, it reminds us that we are partners in the global community with much to learn, much to share, and much to celebrate,” Schumacher noted.

All the events surrounding Help the Hospice’s silver jubilee provided a valuable opportunity to focus on both achievements and opportunities for hospice and palliative care. At the dinner following the reception at St. James’s Palace, Dr. Schumacher was seated with Anne, Duchess of Norfolk, Help the Hospices founder and president. Other notable guests included: Professor Mike Richards, national clinical director for cancer, Department of Health; Baroness Illora Findlay, professor of palliative medicine, member of the House of Lords and president of the Royal Society of Medicine; Graham Perrolls, executive director of Hospices of Hope and internationally recognized advocate for hospice in Romania; and Elizabeth Gwyther of the Hospice and Palliative Care Association of South Africa. All the events surrounding Help the Hospice’s silver jubilee provided a valuable opportunity to focus on both achievements and opportunities for hospice and palliative care.

For more information visit, http://www.nhpco.org