by Kristin Rowan, Editor

On June 18, 2024, the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) announced they had met in Washington D.C. to formally sign an affiliation agreement between the two organizations. After 18 months of meetings, conversations, and compromises, the two groups announced their “Alliance” would be the leading authority of the care at home community.

During the opening keynote address at the NAHC Financial Management Conference in July, Bill Dombi, President of NAHC and interim President of The Alliance, and Kenneth Albert, Chair of the Transition Board of Directors overseeing the merger, spoke about the progress they have made.

Albert spoke of the thoughtful consideration the board and members of both organizations have put into this change. They are focusing on the biggest concerns of home health and hospice providers both now and in the future. The unification will create one voice as they advocate for home health and hospice in Washington D.C.

Albert and Dombi shared the stage at the NAHC Financial Management Conference about the ongoing search for a CEO of the new organization. According to Albert, there were some candidates who were very excited about the role, but whom the board did not feel there was a great fit. Contrarily, there were candidates the board eagerly wanted to move forward with who declined to continue the process. According to Dombi, the search has gone outside care at home as they look for the right fit from qualified candidates from multiple industries. Both agreed that they felt the search was close to over and they should have an announcement about the new CEO, and possibly the new name, sometime in August of this year.

The conjoined organization promises more than just new leadership. Currently under construction is a new logo and website to encompass both groups. Dombi alluded to new resources for providers, training for quality care, and other tools for the industry. While the organization’s name and leadership are forthcoming, the website is projected to launch sometime in the spring of 2025. 

Since the announcement of the merger last year, and even before the deal was inked, NAHC and NHPCO have already been integrating. Dombi told The Rowan Report in a previous interview that the two groups have already been lobbying together, working on policy together, and integrating the management of the two associations. 

With quite a few remaining unanswered questions about the future of the two organizations, NAHC and NHPCO hosted a virtual Town Hall on July 31, 2024. With more than 250 association members from both groups in attendance, Bill Dombi and Ben Marcantonio, interim-CEO for NHPCO, along with Kenneth Albert and Melinda Gruber, Vice Chair of the Transition Board of Directors.

Albert mentioned that there has been some success using the term Alliance, but it is not a long term solution. The finalization of the name is awaiting some trademark issues to be ironed out and that announcement, which they had hoped to be able to make in July, is coming soon.

Gruber thanked the search committee and recruiting firm for their work on the CEO search. Gruber reiterated that they are nearing the final selection phase and after board approval, an announcement will be made. 

Ben Marcantonio, current interim CEO of NHPCO and future CIO of The Alliance confirmed that the new website will allow access to both legacy websites (the current NAHC and NHPCO websites). The new website will have a preliminary version this fall with a fully completed version next spring.

Members of either organization will have full access to the preliminary version of the website this fall. Currently, members can only access information from their own organization, but Marcantonio stressed that if there is information you need, they can help you access it.

There are eleven committees working together to integrate the two associations. advocacy, programs, education, and HR are a few of these workgroups that each have two to three high priority goals that will most effectively bring about the integration of the two groups. Work plans are now in place to create significant integration by the end of the calendar year. 

Bill Dombi presented an updated on the joint policy and advocacy issues The Alliance is undertaking. “What stands out for the immediate term has been how the resources have been employed of the two legacy organizations under the banner of The Alliance, focusing on hospice and palliative care,” Dombi said, “In a matter of weeks we saw significant regulatory and legislative action taking place.”

The Hospice Final Rule 2025 has undergone an intense review and indepth analysis by members of both teams. The rule will have “tremendous impact” under the Medicare hospice program.

According to Dombi, the two organizations have come together to jointly fund a research project for the Special Focus Program to understand the impact and targeting. Dombi is hopeful that U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer’s (D-OR) discussion draft will serve as a stepping stone for Hospice reform.

The ongoing battle in Congress against CMS is gaining momentum. Dombi said there is a “tremendous amount of support” in Congress to role back the authority of CMS to institute rate changes and rate cuts under the Patient Driven Groupings Model (PDGM). “We have gained a seat at the table, which really helps,” Dombi said. We are continuing with litigation challenging Medicare’s validity of the regulation which has set all these rate cuts in motion.

The Final Rule modified in a positive way the 80/20 requirement. “We agree with the intentions of improving the status of direct care workers who positively impact so many lives. But in the absence of additional funding, it’s very very difficult to support this rule,” Dombi said. The modification stepped back from the more “draconian” interpretation, but The Alliance is not yet satisfied with the result. There is talk of a joint lawsuit challenging the validity of that rule.

The Private Duty Home Care world, one of the less regulated in the industry, is gaining a lot of attention from Fair Labor Standards as well as Non-Compete Laws. There is currently a joining of forces around solutions that will help Private Duty in the workforce arena, more specifically the Credit for Caring Act, which is gaining some traction, and would offer some financial support for family members who are paying for home care services directly.

Bill Dombi’s final statement in the Town Hall meeting centered on advocacy. He called for everyone who was in attendance and every member of both legacy organizations to join the fight. Everyone needs to part of that team of advocacy.

There is much more news to come out of these to associations as we near the end of 2024, and still more through the first quarter of 2025. The Rowan Report expects additional announcements to be made at both the NHPCO and NAHC annual conferences and we will be there to update everyone on the progress and statements coming out of those two meetings. 

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Kristin Rowan has been working at Healthcare at Home: The Rowan Report since 2008. She has a master’s degree in business administration and marketing and runs Girard Marketing Group, a multi-faceted boutique marketing firm specializing in event planning, sales, and marketing strategy. She has recently taken on the role of Editor of The Rowan Report and will add her voice to current Home Care topics as well as marketing tips for home care agencies. Connect with Kristin directly kristin@girardmarketinggroup.com or www.girardmarketinggroup.com

©2024 by The Rowan Report, Peoria, AZ. All rights reserved. This article originally appeared in Healthcare at Home: The Rowan Report. One copy may be printed for personal use: further reproduction by permission only. editor@therowanreport.com