As noted above, last week the Senate gave its unanimous approval to a $5.85 billion budget for SFY2019. The budget includes a two percent increase for home health and hospice agencies and other community providers, funding for the Brattleboro Retreat to add 12 inpatient mental health beds, and $4.3 million to community mental health centers to increase compensation for clinical and direct service staff.  For a more comprehensive list of highlights from the Senate budget, click here.

 

The Senate Finance Committee stripped a provision from H.911, the personal income and education finance bill, that would have discouraged charitable giving by large donors. This had significant negative implications for many non-profit organizations, including home health and hospice agencies. Committee members explicitly referenced concerns about the impact on organizations like VNAs during committee debate on the provision.  

 

Two significant bills that impact employees will be on the floor of the House and Senate this week. The House will take up S.40, the minimum wage bill. After receiving the endorsement of the House Committee on General, Housing and Military Affairs, the bill moved to the House Appropriations Committee. That committee wrestled with a number of concerns related to raising the minimum wage, including the concerns raised by the VNAs of Vermont that a minimum wage increase must to be accompanied by a commensurate Medicaid increase for health care employers like home health agencies. In the end, the committee voted to send the bill to the House floor without a recommendation. That means the committee is denying the bill its endorsement, but allowing it to be debated by the full body, rather than stalling permanently in committee.  H.196, the paid family leave bill, met with a similar fate in the Senate. That bill imposes a new payroll tax on employees to fund paid family leave. It too heads to the floor, with support from the policy committee of jurisdiction, but without the endorsement of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) has proposed a draft  FY2019 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update and Hospice Quality Reporting Requirements .  Comments on the draft will be accepted through 5 p.m. on June 26, 2018. As per current law, the rule allows for a 1.8 percent increase in hospice payments. The rule also updates the hospice wage index and solicits comments on quality measures and interoperability of clinical information. The rule also makes changes to the routine public reporting of  hospice measures. Right now, the seven-component "Hospice Item Set" is reported. When a single "composite" measure that incorporates all seven items becomes available, that will be the most prominently displayed measure, though the component parts will still be available.