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03/14/2011
WTAJ-TV10 Healthcast Reporter, Charlotte Ames, contacted Home Nursing Agency shortly after Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett’s budget was unveiled on March 8. Charlotte interviewed Bill McManus, the Agency’s Executive Director of Adult Day/Private Duty Home Care, and Nicole Fedeli-Turiano, the Agency’s Director of Legislative Affairs, for a preliminary outlook.
Click here to see the story that aired on WTAJ.
Agency Encouraged by Governor’s Advancement of Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS)
After briefing the state budget, we're encouraged by Governor Corbett’s commitment to allocating additional resources and funding to Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) and are somewhat surprised by the preservation in Department of Welfare & Department of Health budgets that impact several of our programs and services at Home Nursing Agency such as Women, Infants and Children, Early Intervention, and Drug and Alcohol Services. The collective budget for both the Department of Health & Department of Public Welfare will increase by less than 0.2 percent, but demand for those services is on the rise.
As reflective in our mission at Home Nursing Agency, Governor Corbett is encouraging independence and self-sufficiency that will help many break free from a long-term reliance on public assistance – and his words specifically about independence & self-sufficiency – will serve as a theme in the Agency’s advocacy efforts to state lawmakers as the budget process goes into full swing in the upcoming months.
An Example of Cost-savings with Home and Community-Based Services:
In Pennsylvania, all citizens are entitled to nursing home care — an entitlement that comes with a price tag of about $58,000 per person, per year to Medicaid. What Pennsylvanians are not entitled to is home care — the ability to receive supportive and nonmedical services in one’s own home — the overwhelming choice for seniors and people with disabilities. In contrast to institutional care, the price tag for in-home care is estimated at $22,000 per person, per year to Medicaid, which is less than half the cost of care in long term care facilities. In addition to offering home care services for both young and old, Home Nursing Agency is also a provider of home and community services for adults living with physical and intellectual disabilities through our Adult Center for Exceptional Learning (ACEL) in our Lakemont center in Blair County. For individuals living with severe physical and cognitive disabilities, the cost per year is approximately $20,000 [and less] a year at our community-based facility in Lakemont versus $256,000 at a state-operated center, according to the PA Office of Developmental Programs.
