National Alliance for Care at Home

Earlier today, the House of Representatives passed the American Relief Act 2025, a Continuing Resolution (CR) which would fund the government through March 14, 2025, and extend key healthcare programs through March 31, 2025. The Senate is expected to pass it soon, and President Biden is likely to sign it into law. The bill includes a short-term extension of the hospice face to face recertification, as well as extension of the waiver of the geographic and originating site restrictions allowing for the home health face to face to be performed via telehealth.  While we’re relieved to see these provisions extended, this temporary solution means the Alliance will continue to push over the next few months for permanent telehealth access for care at home to support providers and the patients they serve. Stay tuned for more updates soon.

As you prepare to spend time with loved ones this holiday season, this new CaringInfo blog - available in English and Spanish - dispels common myths about hospice care to help you prepare for potential conversations with loved ones about the care that's right for them. https://lnkd.in/gxBu4ZpH

The National Alliance for Care at Home and Transcend Strategy Group published the results of new research exploring perceptions of hospice care among rural and small-town communities. This survey of 400 people is part of the Alliance’s commitment to health equity. Along with key research findings, the Rural American Hospice Insights report offers recommendations for hospice providers to help increase understanding of hospice care and overcome barriers to access. Read more in the press release and download the report from the Alliance website: https://lnkd.in/eVFtWKJu

The future of telehealth and the fate of millions of Americans are on the line. The Alliance urges Congress and other stakeholders to ensure access to virtual care at home does not abruptly stop on January 1, 2025. Our many telehealth policy champions in Washington must prioritize telehealth in any year-end funding package.   Telehealth has always been a bipartisan issue. Let’s ensure that access to telehealth is not allowed to lapse. #savetelehealth   House Republican Conference U.S. House of Representatives United States Senate

Books can be a wonderful resource to turn to when experiencing or supporting loved ones through #GriefDuringtheHolidays. We hope the list below introduces you to new or forgotten resources to engage with. 💜 When Breath Becomes Air – Paul Kalanthi   💜 The Year of Magical Thinking – Joan Didion   💜 The Long Goodbye – Meghan O’Rourke   💜 Being Mortal – Atul Gawande   💜 Choose a Good Death After a Long Life – Samuel Harrington, M.D.   💜 A Beginner’s Guide to the End – BJ Miller M.D. and Shoshana Berger   💜 That Good Night – Sunita Puri   💜 Death is But a Dream – Christopher Kerr   💜 Half a Life – Jill Cement   💜 Blue Nights – Joan Didion  💜 Autobiography of a Face – Lucy Grealy   💜 Truth and Beauty – Anne Patchett   💜 The Glass Eye – Jeannie Vanasco   💜 Final Gifts – Maggie Callahan   💜 Tuesdays with Morrie – Mitch Albom   💜 On Grief and Grieving – Elizabeth Kubler Ross   💜 How To Go on Living When Someone You Love Dies - Therese A Rando  💜 The Other Side of Sadness - George A. Bonanno  💜 I Wasn’t Ready to Say Goodbye – Brooke Noel   💜 Bearing the Unbearable – Joanne Cacciatore, PhD  💜 All the Things We Don’t Talk About – Amy Feltman  💜 The Art of Dying Well – Katy Butler  💜 With the End in Mind – Kathryn Mannix  💜 Living at the End of Life – Karen Whitley Bell, RN  💜 Life After the Diagnosis – Steven Z. Pantilat, MD  💜 Holiday Grief to Gratitude with Dora Carpenter   💜 The Hospice Doctor’s Widow – Jennifer O’Brien  💜 It’s OK that You’re Not OK – Megan Devine  💜 The Grieving Brain – Mary-Frances O’Connor, PhD  💜 The In-Between: Unforgettable Encounters During Life’s Final Moments – Hadley Vlahos   💜 Conscious Grieving and Anxiety: The Missing Stage of Grief – Claire Bidwell Smith, LCPC  💜 A Neurosurgeon’s Lessons on Love, Loss, and Compassion – Dr. Joseph Stern 

As the year comes to an end, the Alliance wants to thank the hospice and care at home community for their support of the National Hospice Foundation (NHF), the fundraising affiliate of legacy NHPCO. Starting in 2025, NHF evolve into the National Alliance for Care at Home Foundation, expanding our support to more care providers and families. The holiday season often brings a mix of emotions. Honor the memory of loved ones while providing a purpose-filled gift to the family members and friends you share the season with by making a tax-deductible donation to the National Alliance for Care at Home Foundation.  On behalf of the many providers, patients and families, and communities we serve, we thank you for your support.   https://lnkd.in/eGuRrUth  

Care at home community - Take a few minutes and fill out Alliance Strategic Partner Axxess' 2025 survey! 💡 Link below.

View the Recording Now! Alliance Webinar In Partnership with HHS On December 5, the Alliance partnered with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Administration for Community Living, and the National Medical Association for Risk Less. Do More. | Empowering Care at Home Teams with HHS’s Pan Respiratory Virus Campaign Resources. The webinar offers providers with strategies and resources to enhance vaccine literacy among the patients and families they serve. Register for the webinar to view the recording and gain practical tools for your organization: https://lnkd.in/eSYqgf7T

The Alliance is fighting on behalf of its members and the care at home community to stop payment cuts that threaten to limit patient access and decrease quality of care provided across America. “The recent recommendations by MedPAC regarding Medicare home health and hospice policy are misguided and deeply troubling,” Steve Landers MD, MPH, CEO of the National Alliance for Care at Home, said in a statement to McKnight's Home Care Daily Pulse. “Medicare hospice spending has not kept up with labor inflation in the past five years and the typical length of stay and proportion of beneficiaries accessing hospice has stagnated. With respect to home health, the recommendation for drastic cuts is based on a flawed analysis of agency margins that fails to account for all payers and the true financial health of the home health system.” Read more: https://lnkd.in/eNywbvXH

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