The nation’s two largest trade groups representing home health, hospice and palliative care are merging.
The National Association for Home Care and Hospice and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization said Tuesday the executive officers of the trade groups signed a letter of intent June 10 to become a single organization.
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The groups will begin integrating operations July 1 and will be known as the NAHC-NHPCO Alliance until a formal name can be chosen at a later date. Combining the groups' operations is expected to take the remainder of the year and will include the search for a new CEO, according to a news release.
"The leadership of both organizations have worked for 18 months to make this happen and the talented staff at NAHC and NHPCO are already hard at work integrating the organizations," said Kenneth Albert, a chair-elect of the new alliance.
Both organizations represent more than 90 years of experience advocating for providers offering home health, hospice and palliative care. The groups have lobbied the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services individually on Medicare reimbursements for home health and hospice. Last year, the NAHC sued CMS and the Health and Human Services Department over a change in the way home health payment rates are calculated that reduced reimbursements to providers. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit in April.
