April 28, 2003

As many of you know, we have been trying for a long time to get equity in rates paid for Self Directed and non self directed services under the frail elderly waiver.  The Department on Aging reduced the rate paid for self directed to the same rate paid by SRS, but did not do the same for the non self directed rate.  But they implied that they did to the legislature.  Now the House Appropriations committee realized what happened and mirrored the rates to the PD Waiver rates.  They further recommended that the savings, which is 1.7 million in one year be redirected to the DD, PD and FE Waiver waiting list.

Craig Kaberline with the AAA's put out an alert this afternoon claiming that this will ruin Home health agencies. Legislators are hearing that the PD Waiver doesn't need the money!

We're confused as to how the Home Health Agencies could live with that rate under the PD waiver and not the FE Waiver.  We're also confused about how they pay their attendants the same as we do, yet they get a larger reimbursed rate.

Further, we support that action of the House Appropriations committee because the PD Waiver waiting list has been in effect for years and it is time we started providing money to cut the amount of time people have to wait for services.

The bottom line is we're about providing services to as many people as possible, not about beating up home health agencies.

ACTION: WE NEED YOU TO CALL AND ASK YOUR LEGISLATORS TO SUPPORT THE ACTION OF THE HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE.  LEAVE THE RATES THE SAME AS FOR THE PD WAIVER AND DISTRIBUTE THE MONEY BACK TO ALL THE WAITING LISTS. CALL TODAY BEFORE FOLKS RETURN TO TOPEKA!  CALL TOMORROW WHEN THEY ARE BACK!

They are getting many calls from Home Health asking them to restore the cut. If they don't hear from us, they will do that!


"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."  - Martin Luther King Jr