Decoding Home Care Advocacy and Policy Impact

Decoding Home Care Advocacy and Policy Impact

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Mike Paladino: All right. Welcome to the CareSmartz360 on Air, a home care Podcast. I’m Mike Paladino, an account executive here at Caresmartz. You know, home care policies greatly contribute towards bringing accessibility, cost, effectiveness, and a better state of well being amongst individuals in the industry.

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Nevertheless, there are still many challenges that caregivers, elderly adults and agency owners face in terms of achieving their better outcomes now, and certain changes or improvements in home care policies can facilitate achieving exactly these outcomes. And you know sooner, for that matter.

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Mike Paladino: our guest for today, which I’m very excited about is Doug Robertson.

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Mike Paladino: Now Doug, is a home care, regulation and advocacy professional who offers compliance, licensing, and government reimbursement guidance in the senior care sector

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Doug is thankfully today going to be sharing insights on the policy, seeing the gaps and recent updates in the home care industry, as he understands them.

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Mike Paladino: Doug, welcome to the podcast and thank you for joining us today.

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): Thanks, Mike. It’s good to be here and looking forward to the discussion today. I think home care is a really an exciting environment,

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): particularly from a policy standpoint, as we know, the importance of care in the home and policy makers, I think, are very much, much more aware

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): of the significance of the home setting now than ever before that was accelerated by the pandemic and the response to the pandemic and the need to

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): keep people distant from others as well as get them the care that they need. And so I think, flowing out of the pandemic. We have seen an acceleration

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): of interest in care in the home and the policy that affects it.

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Mike Paladino: Yeah, absolutely. And I think you’re definitely bang on with another pandemic really kicking in. Starting a lot of the new policy changes and revaluations, right? Especially across the country we saw long term care. There was a lot of struggle there, you know, a lot of elderly in the ho, and the long term care facilities with the outbreaks and people not being able to see their loved ones. It really puts a big focus on having care provided in the home.

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And I think that’s something that we’ll see more and more and more as time goes forward. So again, really appreciate you taking the time, Doug, and very excited to to learn more about you know your

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your thoughts, your understanding, and your feedback. But what you’ve seen in industry as well.

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Mike Paladino: So Doug, the first question I have for you today is, how can home care agency owners and their staff shape home care? Public policy?

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): Yeah, I think it’s important for Home Care agency owners to block out some time

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): in their schedule, and I know they’re busy, and I know they’re pulled in a thousand directions. But there needs to be some time spent on advocacy

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): in relationship building with their elected officials in engagement, in trade associations that represent

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): the provider and the client and the home care worker and their interests.

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): and by getting together under the umbrella of an association membership, they can really magnify their voice, and not feel so alone, sometimes targeted or forgotten in the public policy, debate

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): around care in the home.

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): And so I would encourage home care agency owners to join the association that represents them, and depending on the acuity level of their patients and the services they provide. There’s a couple of associations that might

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): be fitting whether it’s the National Association of Home Health and Hospice or it’s the Home Care Association of America. And then there’s various other coalitions and groups. I think those 2

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): associations probably capture most of the audience for this podcast but there could be others and then engage in the association activities. If they have a call to action you want to participate in that and send a letter of message to your member of Congress or State legislator or the governor.

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): but spend some time outside of making requests and just getting to know your policy. Makers, you know, save legislators particularly from having a coffee with sessions back in their home district. It’s a little more relaxed than the frenetic activity of the State capital and the

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): and the catacombs of their State legislature, and so they’ll have some informal get togethers, go do a meet and greet. Just spend 5 min yourself talking about what you do. The value of home care. And then, if there are specific times that you can block out.

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): do a 30 min meeting in their office. It may be with their staff member. That’s okay. If you can only get in to see their staff member. The staff in the Legislature’s office do a lot of work. They keep their boss informed, and bring along some association materials on issues important to you.

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): and then tell your story. I can’t over emphasize that enough? You have to tell your story, you know. Why did you get into home care? Why is it important to you?

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): If you can relay a story about your caregivers and how you helped your clients the value of your business in your area as a creator of jobs. We need to emphasize the vital part. The home care agency owners provide their community

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): and make sure life serves, know about it, and not just when we need something absolutely. And I think you hit the nail on the head with that last comment, Doug. It’s being proactive. And knowing that largely a lot of agencies that know have started or provide a service. No, there’s a motivation behind that. Maybe they saw a loved one have maybe not so great care from a facility or something, and that motivated them to do something different. And through these learnings, and through being proactive, it allows us to learn what are the gaps. And what can we

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do? What is our voice land where we can maybe make a difference and an impact change? And I think

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Mike Paladino: getting involved with the You know the Home Care Association of America or those coalitions, I think, though, that’s a great place to start, because there’s always recruiting and no looking for new members. And we go to conferences all over the country every year, and really it seems like each calls them a coalition, or calls them the association. They grow every year, and that power is insurmountable, because that means.

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Mike Paladino: You know, there’s more of a voice, more people giving feedback. And there’s more learning to be had. And it’s such a collaborative industry. I love collaborativeness because it’s not like we all know the answer to everything. We’re always trying to learn. What did this agency do differently? How do we get more efficient? You know, I think the last time I spoke to somebody as an influencer in the industry. We’re talking about marketing and how we can automate a lot of those processes to help with

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making it easier to focus on agency, specific growth efforts and other things like that. Right? So there’s always a cog wheel, right? Something’s always spinning, and it’s always something to focus on. And this right now, what we’re talking about is super important and cannot be understated, because again.

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Mike Paladino: especially with new and ever changing compliances. We gotta be up to date, and we have to learn, especially if we handle medicaid or, you know, veteran affairs billing. Because if we don’t have the right compliance in place, if we have incorrect details on our forms or on our no

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Mike Paladino: Apv data or whatever we’re sending over for the claim that gets denied. We don’t get paid another big problem right? And there’s other things we can do to manage those efforts, but again great response. And and and I’m very eager to learn more about how how you’ve been able to make some of this impact as well, so

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Mike Paladino: Doug, the next question I do have, which is, is kind of, you know, Piggy, backing off the last one. What are some of the biggest challenges, you know, facing individuals and families seeking home care assistance, particularly in light of the current policies.

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): I think costs of care is a driving force behind a number of things that home care agencies and

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): clients potential clients are facing.

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): You know, our country does not have a

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): Federal long-term care, benefit for assistance, ongoing assistance with activities of daily living. And in the absence of that I don’t know that consumers have really planned ahead and save

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): and prepare themselves

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): for as much as 20 to 30 years of non working years in the latter part of their life, when there’s probably more healthcare costs than at any other time in their life. And so, as a result, what we’re seeing are a lot of folks not prepared for the cost of long term care in any setting.

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): And even though the home setting may be the least expensive, you know, how do you know we can necessarily say it’s always affordable anymore, but it’s the least expensive. They’re just not prepared for that, even that cost.

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): And so I think a lot of folks

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): are spending down their assets and winding up on the Medicaid rolls in their States, States, then have to grapple with

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): significantly higher Medicaid enrollment.

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): They don’t have the funds for it. And so the cost of care is putting pressure on families and policy makers alike

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): wage growth in the home care sector has also increased, which is probably the largest driver of the rising cost of care

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): and wage growth is needed because caregivers should be provided for, and their needs need to be met and that’s just a humane response. So we need some other level of funding, and it can’t solely come from Medicaid and burn that system.

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): So states now, in in the absence of Congressional activity, to create a Federal long-term care benefit

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): States, I think, are stepping up to the plate. We have seen Washington create a long term, care, tax a payroll tax that the citizens of Washington have to pay for much like they

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): pay into social security and medicare. Now they’re going to pay into a State long term care tax, and they are paying into that. And in the coming years the early beneficiaries will be able to recoup those benefits. It’s $36,000 a year for the long term. Care benefits for those eligible

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): over the course of 2 years.

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): and you know a lot of folks on average point of the surveys I’ve read need about 2 years of long term care assistance at the end of their life and family, and others kind of step in to meet the other years of need that they might have if they have needs. Of course not. Everybody needs long term care, but most do.

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): And so that’s Washington’s response. In California an actuarial report was issued for the California long term care insurance task force in November of last year.

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): and that group put together an estimate of creating a similar benefit in California, which, of course, has a huge population.

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): Minnesota is also looking at such a State long term care benefit so the States are trying to create a benefit to keep folks off of Medicaid, but also provide some type of public assistance for the long term. Care to address that driving force of the rising cost of care. So I think cost of care is the number one issue. A lot of people are focusing on it. And we’re seeing a lot of things happening.

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): And and I work for right at home, and right at home is a member of the moving Health Home Coalition, which is supporting legislation in Congress. That would also add a small ongoing assistance with activities daily living benefit in original Medicare.

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Mike Paladino: Yeah. And I think you know one of the things you mentioned to me right now that really stands out was how you know caregivers know the wages are increasing, which is, is a positive thing, right? I think it can’t be understated how challenging our industry is. I’ve seen at first hand now, I haven’t been a caregiver myself, but my mother was a nurse for 35 years. No specializing in home care and healthcare and hospice so I had to by extension watch her go through

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through the th. I call it the change in the industry, because what it was like 30 years ago is much different today, even in the last 5 years, it’s changed dramatically. Right?

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Mike Paladino: And you know that’s one angle. Think about now, my fiance before she’s a nurse as well. I’m surrounded by nurses in my life. But before that she was a Cna, and she was doing long term care, working in facilities, and helping the elderly and every day I would hear a new story about how you know things were. No, maybe there wasn’t enough funding, or things were very challenging, very short staffed. That’s the most common one. It’s like one person

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is working with 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 people at once, and it creates unsafe working conditions. And then it kind of demotivates people that want to be involved in industry. So those are challenges, I think, largely related to what you’re mentioning, more funding, better access to people, better access to care.

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Mike Paladino: You know those kinds of things. They make an impact, and we might not see them right away. But we might see them over in the next couple of years really drive that impact that you and I are looking for in the industry. So it’s never gonna be a silver bullet. That kind of solves anything right? It’s kinda ongoing. You’re always kinda shifting the goal post. As to what that new burning platform is to solve for. But I think the most positive thing we can learn from that is that we are trying to solve

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for them. And we’re just kind of working with what we’re given, which I think is the nature of our industry as it’s been for years. Right?

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): Right?

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Mike Paladino: Oh, that’s awesome. Doug. I appreciate those insights. Now, piggybacking off that one. Again, can you tell us which authorities to contact for various homecare provisions and benefits?

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): Yeah, there are a lot of different Federal and State government agencies that have a hand in home care, regulation

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): and funding, and it’s important for home care agency owners to understand

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): which body does what? So that they understand who to contact when they have a need. For example, you know, if someone is a operating certified Home Health Agency and

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): providing care to medicare beneficiaries than Cms. The centers for Medicare and Medicaid innovation services rather are is going to be a very important

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): organization for them, because they’re setting the conditions of participation. The rules by which that agency needs to follow in order to be reimbursed. They’re setting in large part parameters that affect reimbursement

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): so they’re gonna be very interested in what Cms is doing in communicating. They’re gonna have to follow Cms’s rules and guidelines.

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): And then Cms, being a Federal agency, is influenced by Congress, and Congress would be another body for those that are certified home health agencies to engage in relationships in. So you have a House, you have a Senate, you have a Senators as well as Members of Congress House representatives to contact

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): and make your case to them about what you think Cms needs to do or not do.

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): And then Medicaid is a funding source that’s operated by CMS. But really funded and directed more so by the States.

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): And so someone is re providing care to those receiving Medicaid benefits. They’re going to want to contact their State Department of Health and Human Services.

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): or via whatever agency might be operating that Medicaid program in the State

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): to understand the rules for Medicaid, the billing procedures, and whether or not that State exports the the management of Medicaid

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): to what’s called Mcos managed care organizations, or long term care plans, as they might be called. Essentially these are oftentimes insurance companies, or a third party administrator that’s contracted by the State to run that Medicaid program in that state. There may even be multiple Mcos in a state operating from one county to the next. So for Medicare and Medicaid services. Those would be the the different groups to contact

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): a State agency like the Department of Health or in California for example, the department of social services. They run the license that needs to be obtained by the agency to provide home care

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): whether it’s going to be non medical, or whether it’s going to be nursing and skilled services. There’ll be a license in most States, certainly for skilled 33 States for non medical

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): Where the agency needs to get the appropriate licensing authority to provide those services. And that’s oftentimes separate

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): from getting credentialed with the Medicaid program or the Mcos that run the Medicaid program and getting credentialed with Medicare to provide care for those beneficiaries and get reimbursed by those different organizations. So you have a licensing authority, and then you have essentially a funding or reimbursement authority.

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): and the 2 are different. And it’s important to understand the difference between those 2, and then the State legislature is going to have a great impact on the Medicaid reimbursement as well as licensing authority, which is the other state

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): the other issue overseen by the State government. So interacting with your state legislature is gonna be important for licensing and medicaid funding.

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Mike Paladino: Yeah, all, all amazing points of feedback, Doug. And I think you know, one of the things I hear from that is, there is a lot to know, a lot to learn and a lot to prepare for right, especially as we try to for a startup agency, right? Trying to get a license trying to get their accreditation or credentials to service different individuals, demographics, whether it’s private pay that might be the easier, easiest one to achieve. Right? You didn’t have Medicaid that takes a bit longer Va. Other types

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Mike Paladino: types of qualifications or credentials you need. So like you said, there are people we can reach out to Mcos, the state people in Congress, or our local and municipality, to understand what is the process, to ensure that those that need care in this type of no demographic can receive it.

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Mike Paladino: So it’s, I think, the best takeaway that I have from that is, to ask questions. Be curious, because things are changing and most states operate differently. So what maybe you’re familiar with in one state is largely going to be different somewhere else. So it’s just that continuous learning that continuous curiosity, I like to call it to really understand. What does it know? What does success look like? What do I need to know to ensure that we can support our clients and ultimately get reimbursed or paid for those efforts as well.

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Mike Paladino: So amazing insights as usual. Doug. Now the next question I have is, can you discuss any innovative approaches or programs aimed at improving accessibility and quality of homecare services within the framework of those existing policies?

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): Yeah, II think, as I mentioned, State governments are trying to understand

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): or create ways to provide more sources of funding.

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): You know, one program, I think, is intriguing is in California, the cal aim

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): project so the State of California has a very long wait list for

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): in-home support, which is

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): Medicaid home care in that state.

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): and that wait list can be months, even as much as a year or more.

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): And so Cal Aim is a new Medicaid benefit run through Mc. OS in California to provide

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): in-home care to those on the waitlist.

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): So we now have home care for those in the waitlist to get home care, in large part because of the shortage of caregivers in that state. Most of the reasons why that exists. That backlog exists.

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): But I think that’s innovative, and that that’s the state

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): putting some real dollars against

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): the need to help people that are are needing home care right now, and cannot wait

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): months and months for that benefit.

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): So that’s one thing that state California is doing. That, I think, is definitely innovative.

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): and I think that there are some other opportunities out there, other services provided or available to participate in. It’s really gonna vary from one state to the next. We’re seeing

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): States come up with creative solutions for some training programs for caregivers to help elevate the profession. I think that’s very helpful. Again, I belong to the moving Health home coalition and trying to make some changes at in Congress

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): and at the Federal level that would allow for more care in the home. I think hospital at home is a a needed opportunity, and that is made possible by a Congressional waiver to the conditions of participation that allows

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): acute care that would normally take place in a facility like a hospital or other skilled facility, and for the right patient at the right time

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): they can get the care they need at home. Technology has advanced to the point that there are a lot of

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): devices that can work in the home setting just as well as they can in the institution. There are remote, patient monitoring devices and services that make the home setting a possibility for someone with more acute care.

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): There are different providers paramedic type groups that can go out

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): to the home, and hospitals are hiring for people to then staff to go out to the home setting.

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): and with the tremendous need for more beds and hospital settings. They. They see the home is a great opportunity again for the right patient at the right time, and it. It’s always Cho ‘s patient choice. It’s not a requirement that they get care in the home

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): if they don’t. If they don’t want that.

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Mike Paladino: Yeah, I think you know all the amazing points. And one of the things again that stands out to me in that conversation is technology advancement. I think more and more as technology, you know. I mean, we are increasing at a record pace. Even if you look 5 years ago, what is possible now? The things. You see, you know, on online or in the news, or just the different types of technologies we see largely are going to impact home health

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care and nonmedical, skilled and medical services right? And I think the opportunity now is in its infancy, in my opinion. But the opportunity, like you mentioned, is giving more infrastructure support to maybe not having to go to a hospital or a skilled facility to get those skilled services. I can maybe get them at home because of those remote monitor, monitoring devices or other means of technology that allow us to not be at home

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Mike Paladino: to receive the care. Otherwise we’d have to travel for, because that’s another Tri issue, right transportation if I need to get somewhere. But I don’t have the means, or I can’t get on a bus, or I can’t call a taxi, or I need a special vehicle to transport somewhere. These are things that also can be a hindrance to somebody that needs that kind of skilled care whereas getting it at home might be a better avenue for it. So

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Mike Paladino: over time, in my opinion, as I’m sure you share. Hopefully, technology allows us to better support those that fit that that requirement that needs

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Doug Robertson (Right at Home): it certainly helps

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Mike Paladino: Yeah, absolutely. And I think you know me personally, just being I’m on the software technology side. Now, I’m kind of a tech nerd in general. I just love everything to do with it. That makes our jobs and people like yours easier as well. And better. Access to data gives us better access to information. So I’m just hyper. Curious to see how those changes in technology can have an impact on us, because we’re always looking for ways to get better.

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especially in our industry. And you know, even just as a quick aside with care smarts, we have something that’s more AI powered now where we can give, you know, caregiver churn possibility as on reduction or sales forecasting metrics based on how many patients you’re managing and their availability and all those kinds of things. I think that’s in its infancy infancy for us, but having especially the caregiver churn

00:26:21.040 –> 00:26:38.480
idea, you can see who’s more likely to maybe find additional work or not work for my agency or not provide the level of care that we know we know we expect right, and these small things over time will allow us to make those impactful, meaningful decisions that ultimately, you know, allow us to do right by our clients and support them.

00:26:39.680 –> 00:27:00.510
Mike Paladino: So last question for you, Doug, and you’ve been fantastic today. Thank you for all your insight. It’s such an amazing thing for us to all hear and learn from a professional like yourself. This is certainly very valuable, so I really appreciate you being so insightful and thoughtful, and all of your responses really do appreciate that one more question for you, Doug.

00:27:00.510 –> 00:27:15.309
Mike Paladino: What role do you think? Advocacy and public awareness plays in shaping home care policies? And how can listeners that are tuning in get involved in advocating for positive change in this specific area.

00:27:16.100 –> 00:27:21.330
Doug Robertson (Right at Home): Yeah, I think advocacy is absolutely vital. For the home care

00:27:21.570 –> 00:27:42.500
Doug Robertson (Right at Home): sector at this point in time, particularly at this point in time, A. A. As I mentioned, there was already a heightened awareness about the value of care in the home before the pandemic and the pandemic just put that interest on steroids and accelerated it at a rapid pace.

00:27:42.510 –> 00:27:48.900
Doug Robertson (Right at Home): And now, with also the technological developments and the potential for AI

00:27:48.930 –> 00:28:01.410
Doug Robertson (Right at Home): automating things, remote, patient monitoring, and the rapid advances in in that field, I think care in the home is is at a tipping point

00:28:01.950 –> 00:28:07.019
Doug Robertson (Right at Home): where it is, it is seen as a viable setting

00:28:07.210 –> 00:28:12.829
Doug Robertson (Right at Home): again for the right patient with the right diagnoses, needing the right care

00:28:12.930 –> 00:28:26.119
Doug Robertson (Right at Home): but that unloads a burden off facilities, and it provides people what they want, which is care in the home. I mean, we’ve seen survey after survey

00:28:26.260 –> 00:28:28.520
Doug Robertson (Right at Home): show that. So I think with the

00:28:28.570 –> 00:28:45.430
Doug Robertson (Right at Home): the point in time that we’re at right now, with the health care, burden on facilities, with the interest on receiving care in the home. I think advocacy for policies that allow more of that is more vile now than ever before.

00:28:45.690 –> 00:28:52.789
Doug Robertson (Right at Home): It’s a very exciting time to be in public policy in home care, particularly

00:28:52.830 –> 00:29:03.010
Doug Robertson (Right at Home): amongst the healthcare discussions. So I think it’s very much important, then, that homecare agency owners make sure that their voice is heard.

00:29:03.060 –> 00:29:15.680
Doug Robertson (Right at Home): And they need to talk about the cost of care with policy makers, because I think that gets lost right the the cost of home care.

00:29:15.780 –> 00:29:19.370
Doug Robertson (Right at Home): which is a service that people want.

00:29:19.450 –> 00:29:36.959
Doug Robertson (Right at Home): That message needs to be brought home to policy makers for them to understand that the people that vote for them want care in the home. And so we need to have policies that make this as affordable as possible, and not just think about

00:29:36.980 –> 00:29:45.549
Doug Robertson (Right at Home): The other side of the equation, what the money is spent on, but rather think about, how can we fund it more? How can we make it more affordable?

00:29:45.600 –> 00:30:04.509
Doug Robertson (Right at Home): Are those State tax credits that recipients of home care can then use to help offset the cost? Is it changes to Hsa policies to allow for more care in the home to be reimbursed from those funds. You know. What is it we need to make it more affordable?

00:30:04.960 –> 00:30:31.090
Doug Robertson (Right at Home): not more costly, and we should not have regulations that are overly burdensome. We need to recognize the acuity of care that family members are providing. Once trained by a nurse in their home when they’re a medicare beneficiary and realize these family members are not prepared for this, and if they could have someone in the home that can assist them

00:30:31.120 –> 00:30:43.219
Doug Robertson (Right at Home): and legally do so, because state licensure laws are shaped in a way to allow an unlicensed personnel to assist the family member, for example, with providing some level of care that

00:30:43.330 –> 00:30:49.029
Doug Robertson (Right at Home): you know a nurse might provide. You know, we need to have the conversations about how we can make this happen

00:30:49.050 –> 00:30:57.649
Doug Robertson (Right at Home): without necessarily infringing on license personnel and other authorities, and to do so safely.

00:30:57.780 –> 00:31:10.870
Doug Robertson (Right at Home): But we just have to make the home setting as advantageous as possible for the consumers, for the patient and for those giving that care in the home advocacy plays a huge role in that.

00:31:10.900 –> 00:31:35.610
Mike Paladino: absolutely. And I think when you build upon that idea of public advocacy, I feel like the more and more especially as certain generations, you know, get older and need health care, home care, or, you know, medical services right as they age the baby boomer generation. Right? As an example. I think that families are gonna start to really see the impact as their loved ones need that in-home assistance. And I haven’t even seen that.

00:31:35.710 –> 00:31:56.329
Personally, I have a 95 year old grandfather. He’s a very stubborn Italian man, straight from Italy. And no, now he’s not needing assistance, and he refused to go to a facility, or he wanted that in home care, and that opened up our ideas of Okay, what does that mean to provide care for him? Who do we need to find? How do we find that person that we trust? Right? And

00:31:56.330 –> 00:32:13.509
Mike Paladino: Honestly, it was very tough to find people that you felt. You know we’re going to take amazing care of your loved one or your elderly person and your family. So I think access to individuals, access to agencies and removing the barriers that allow agencies to do that level of work, I think, is super important.

00:32:13.580 –> 00:32:43.249
Mike Paladino: and a lot of that will stem from individuals like myself and my family when we see those challenges first hand when trying to find care. That’s when it makes you want to speak up and go to your Congress and go to your municipality and say, Hey, you know we’ve seen challenges in this this and this and that helps people create policy or change policy because there’s more public advocacy. So I think it’s such a great point. And it’s something that again. I think we’ll see, as you mentioned, more and more over time, especially here in the near future. One thing.

00:32:43.360 –> 00:33:06.589
Mike Paladino: I guess the final comment I’ll make on that is, when you make it easier to have access to in-home care services. It also lessens the burden, as you mentioned, on facilities on hospitals, because maybe people are less likely to go into a facility or go to the emergency room or go to a skilled area where they can then maybe have a contact that can come to their home and do it for them and lessen the burden of the actual

00:33:06.590 –> 00:33:22.320
Mike Paladino: no facility unit. So that’s something that I’ve seen very much having a positive impact with home care is, it does inadvertently and also directly, lessen the burden on those hospitals or facilities that provide other skilled services, too. Right?

00:33:22.320 –> 00:33:51.209
Mike Paladino: But again, great point. And such lovely feedback! Doug, that’s all I had for you today. So I wanted to thank you for sparing your very precious time and sharing those amazing insights with us. I’m sure the audience is going to know. Review this and is also tuned into this is, gonna find this very useful and I thank everyone who has taken the time to tune in Noah, thank you for tuning in rather until our next episode. This is Mike, and I’ll be signing off for now, and we’ll tune in again very soon.

00:33:51.810 –> 00:33:52.960
Mike Paladino: Thanks, take care!