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February 10, 2009

The Reader's Page
The Post-Standard
PO Box 4915
Syracuse, New York 13221

To The Editor:

As President and Chief Executive Officer and Chairs of the various Boards that make up VNA Systems, Inc., parent organization to CCH Home Care & Palliative Services, Inc., Independent Health Care Services, Inc., and Visiting Nurse Association of Central New York, Inc., we are expressing our opposition to the $233 million in devastating home care cuts proposed in Governor Paterson’s 2009-10 Executive Budget – a dollar figure that nearly doubles in size to approximately $445 million when the loss of federal Medicaid matching dollars are taken into account.

These cuts – amounting to almost a half-billion dollars – would irreparably damage an entire system that provides cost-effective skilled nursing, therapy, home health aide assistance and other vital care at home to thousands of vulnerable New Yorkers who are disabled, chronically ill, or recovering from a serious illness. Cuts of this magnitude will mean that agencies will have to drastically reduce programs and services, lose needed staff, delay cost-saving technological investments, bear an ever-growing debt burden, or, worse yet, close their doors.

In addition to direct reimbursement cuts, the Governor’s budget also contains several far-reaching, catastrophic changes to the entire infrastructure of home care delivery. These structural proposals promise little in the way of actual Medicaid savings for the state. At the same time, they would drastically alter the landscape of care delivery in such a way that agencies will encounter insurmountable new operational costs.

The consequences both for patients and New York’s overall health care system – which has come to depend on home care – are catastrophic. Those who desperately need care at home will have no choice but to remain longer in the hospital, enter a nursing home, or forgo preventive, chronic care management and post-acute care altogether. This is simply unacceptable.

The organizations that comprise VNA Systems, Inc. are by no means alone in facing an uncertain future when it comes to the programs and services we provide. Without relief in the form of federal assistance or legislative action, the Governor’s budget cuts will have very real implications for New Yorkers of all ages who rely on home care services to continue living in their homes. The loss of home care services will lead to higher health care costs – through an increase in re-hospitalizations, emergency room use and other high-cost services – as well as a significant deterioration in the quality of life for thousands of New Yorkers.

We seek your support in opposing the Governor’s budget cuts to home care providers and ask that you contact your Senate and Assembly leadership to express the role the cuts would inevitably play in diminishing the capacity of providers to deliver cost-effective home care services. Together, we can work to protect the infrastructure of homecare delivery and preserve the quality of life for thousand of New Yorkers.

Indi L. Shelby, RN, BSN, MS
President/CEO
VNA Systems, Inc.
Syracuse

Nancy Light
Chair
Board of Directors
VNA Systems, Inc.
Syracuse

Roslyn Bilford
Chair
Board of Directors
CCH Home Care & Palliative Services, Inc.
Liverpool

David Johnson
Chair
Board of Directors
Independent Health Care Services, Inc.
Syracuse

Randy J. Wiley
Chair
Board of Directors
Visiting Nurse Association of Central New York, Inc.
Syracuse

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