Representatives from Hospice of Chattanooga traveled to Washington D.C. this week to participate in the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization’s “Capitol Hill Day” 2010.
Clark Taylor Jr., CEO, and Medical Director, Deanna Duncan, M.D., led Hospice of Chattanooga’s delegation. They met with several members of the United States Senate and the House of Representatives, including U.S. Representative Jimmy Duncan from East Tennessee.
The purpose of these meetings was to encourage local policy makers to preserve and protect access to quality, end of life hospice care.
"This is just the beginning of efforts to educate members of Congress about the value of hospice care, particularly in the wake of healthcare reform,” said Dr. Duncan. “1.4 million patients nationwide depended on hospice care last year. We want our local legislators to understand end of life care is valued by their constituents.”
The recently passed healthcare legislation states the Medicare Hospice Benefit will receive a 14.3% rate cut in the year 2013.
Essentially, that’s a 14.3% reduction in funding for hospice providers nationwide.
“These cuts are dire and detrimental,” said Mr. Taylor. “We want our legislators to know not-for-profit hospice programs, like Hospice of Chattanooga, will suffer significantly if these reductions are implemented.
NHPCO’s “Capitol Hill Day” was April 21, but it is a weeklong event for Hospice of Chattanooga. The delegation has congressional meetings scheduled through Friday.
Hospice of Chattanooga was founded in 1981. It is the largest not-for-profit hospice in Tennessee, serving more than 550 patients each day. Each year, Hospice of Chattanooga provides more than half a million dollars in unfunded care to families in both Tennessee and North Georgia, officials said.