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The Home Care Association of Florida
www.homecarefla.org
than 50% and the honest providers remaining
now truly have a fighting chance at meeting the
legitimate healthcare needs of their large senior
population. This was accomplished because
HCAF, under the passionate leadership of
Gene Tischer, was unrelenting in its focus on
the rampant abuses that were going on during
those years. Gene was able to be so bold and
outspoken because he had the support of honest
providers throughout the state.
We all remember when CMS’s solution to the
Miami crisis lead to underpaid outlier claims for
honest home care providers throughout Florida
and the entire country. These claims were held
for years, amounting to millions of dollars’ worth
of reimbursement. The home care industry in
Florida banded together to implement change
on a national level. We stormed the U.S. Capitol,
worked with Senator Bill Nelson, and spent
countless hours advocating for change. We
stood together until our requests for accelerated
payments were fulfilled and we determined the
most effective procedure for applying interest
owed on outlier payments from CMS.
And just this year we achieved another major
milestone: after three years of fighting against
AHCA’s Quarterly Report, the requirement has
finally been eliminated by the Florida Legislature.
This was no easy task and our success was not
attributed to merely luck. For the first time since
its inception, we all came together in a consistent,
thoughtful, and assertive campaign. Our strong
showing at HCAF’s Tallahassee Legislative Day
was a catalyst for a very successful legislative
session. Educating lawmakers and testifying in
committee hearings, combined with Home Care
PAC donations to candidates, allowed our voice
to be heard. We were collectively stronger than
ever before and lawmakers listened. When we
stood up as a community, we proved that home
care providers play a vital role in communities
across Florida. Thank you to all of our HCAF
members who made this advocacy goal a
reality—your consistent voices, PAC donations,
and legislator meetings are what allowed us to
finally eliminate the Quarterly Report.
Next time you see an email Action Alert from
our HCAF team, you are asked to make a modest
donation to the Home Care PAC, or you are
even requested to attend the next Tallahassee
Legislative Day, remember that your actions
matter. Engagement from each and every HCAF
member matters. The relationships that you
build with lawmakers matter. It could mean the
difference between thousands of dollars in your
pocket or struggling to stay afloat. Just imagine
if we could have eliminated the Quarterly
Report requirement three years earlier. Since it
was established, AHCA collected more than $5.6
million in fines, mostly from honest providers
who simply missed the reporting deadline. Those
meaningful dollars could have been enough to
keep the doors of a struggling agency open or to
hire a desperately-needed employee.
We are proud of our accomplishments;
however,` policies are never final and our work is
never finished. As we look to the future, we have
an arduous path ahead to ensure that home care
becomes the center of health care in Florida. We
have proved that it can be done, but we can’t do
it unless we are steadfast in our pursuit. It will
take our entire community of providers standing
up against continued regulations, reimbursement
cuts, red tape, and burdensome mandates. We
will need to propose unprecedented health
care solutions that can occur in the comfort of
patients’ own homes. Our complaints will need
to shift towards inventive ideas. If we want to
lead the future of health care, we must be leaders
with bold answers.
Here in Florida, each day 700 baby boomers
turn 65. It’s an alarming reality that our state will
need to prepare for by implementing innovative
solutions to provide for this rising senior
population. Home care should, and must, be at
the forefront of this ever-changing health care
landscape. This will bring new challenges, but it
comes with enormous potential. It’s imperative
that we rise together through these changes to
ensure that our home care community thrives for
years to come.
HCAF
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Anthony Clarizio
Executive Director, Shands Home-
Care, Shands Home Health and
ElderCare of Alachua County
Anthony Clarizio, HCAF President
O
ur great nation was built on the
foundation of communities
coming together and working
hard to achieve their dreams.
One of our most brilliant innovators and
entrepreneurs, Henry Ford, said “coming
together is a beginning, staying together is
progress, and working together is success.”
Here at the Home Care Association of Florida
(HCAF) we have a dream: that home care
becomes the center of health care in the
Sunshine State. And like Henry Ford, we know
that if everyone is moving forward together,
then success takes care of itself.
Since HCAF’s founding nearly 26 years ago, our
major milestones have always been accomplished
when we energetically and resolutely acted in
unison. It is only when we stand united that
our voices are heard and our goals are achieved.
Time and time again we are proving that there’s
no limit to what we can do if we all step up to the
plate and take action collectively.
Miami-Dade County was once known nationally
as “ground-zero” for Medicare fraud and abuse.
That’s not true today; the number of home care
agencies in that area has been reduced by more
