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NADSA Works to Increase VA Benefits for Adult Day Providers
It is with great excitement that NADSA announces tremendous progress in support from the Veterans Administration for attendance of veterans at adult day services. NADSA leadership continues to dialogue with key national VA staff about the benefits that of adult day service centers can provide to veterans. Through many conversations, they have brought adult day services to the forefront in home and community based services for veterans. Most recently at the AAHSA Public Policy Forum in March, Daniel Schoeps, director, Long Term Care Purchasing of the US Department of Veterans Affairs addressed a group of NADSA members. He challenged the group to activate state associations of adult day services to get before key staff of every VA center in the country to remind them of the cost effective and profound impact ADS has in communities and their ability to serve veterans well. This is a critical time for ADS state associations to support and advance the work NADSA has done. Schoeps stressed the following important points-issues that potentially effect all NADSA members:
- Congress appropriated a 26.3% increase in 2007 for home and community based services for veterans. This money was just received the first of March. An additional increase of 19.1% was appropriated for 2008.
- Although the monies do NOT specify adult day services, we must remind of key players at the VA to remind them of our services. There is much discretion in what home and community based services are paid for. If we do not consistently voicing out concerns, adult day services will be forgotten.
- Urge your state association to initiate a meeting with important people at your local veterans' affairs offices/medical centers including the:
- Chief medical officer
- Network contracting officer
- Head of Geriatrics and Extended Care
- Network planner
- Network chief operating officer
- Other individuals to meet with are the Commanders of local veterans' groups such as the American Legion since these groups can help advocate for home and community based services for their members.
- Mr. Schoeps stressed that VA centers do not wish to be inundated by individual adult day centers. The most effective strategy is to take an organizational approach by having state associations represent a more global picture of available services across your state.
- Infuse your conversations with consistent, truthful statements and give case studies to illustrate the below points:
- We have member centers that have the capacity to serve-veterans in their respective communities.
- We can extend access to services-"We (ADS) can provide services where you (VA) are not (no VA hospital or clinic)"
- We can help reduce the number of clinic visits by veterans thereby reducing your waiting lists.
- We can assist caregivers with questions, referrals and respite so they are not at your door asking for Skilled Nursing Facility care as frequently.
- Emphasize how you will especially address the needs and concerns of men.
- Contracts for veteran attendance at adult day services will still be negotiated with individual ADS centers.
- Centers may contract for more than one service (ADS, homemaker, home health aide, spinal cord injury, home respite, home hospice, home tele-health) if licensed to do so.
- If we do not advocate for adult day services to be utilized for veterans with this money, the money will be used for other home and community based services.
- A new, more adult day services "friendly" handbook of Veterans Administration regulations for home and community based services is due out this summer which will increase the interest in home and community based services. It will be posted at www.va.gov when available. This site also links to lists of local VA networks. Go to "healthcare", then either "geriatric and extended care," "patient care services" or "facility locator." You should then be able to find a list of principle officers at your local/regional VA offices.
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