Interview with Bill Dombi – President of the National Association for Home Care & Hospice

Welcome to The Moving Healthcare Forward Podcast, where we speak with leaders in the healthcare space about how to address challenges facing everyday people, especially our most vulnerable. For our first episode, we delve into the importance of at-home care and hospice care, and how these services have evolved under the umbrella of Medicare over the past few decades. We discuss the impact that changes in healthcare legislation has had on at-home care, why policymakers are so eager to apply excessive scrutiny to Medicare, and why advocacy for the advancement of at-home care needs to continue. Joining us today to unpack this expansive topic is Bill Dombi, President of the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC). Bill has had a long career, both as a litigator and as an advocate for healthcare rights, and is a pivotal figure in the advancement of at-home care. Tuning in you’ll hear Bill apply his extensive knowledge to a range of topics, from healthcare, politics, and bipartisanship, to the critical role that technology has played in bringing a broader range of healthcare services to at-home care. US healthcare has come a long way, but there is still plenty of work to be done. To learn more about at-home care and how you can become an advocate for moving healthcare forward, make sure you tune in today!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Introducing today’s guest, Bill Dombi, President of the National Association for Home Care & Hospice.
• Learn about Bill’s earlier career and how he started advocating for at-home and hospice care.
• Why Bill prefers to call himself a problem solver, rather than a litigator.
• An outline of Bill's role in a critical class action lawsuit against Medicare in the 1980s.
• How this led to an expansion of the Home Health Program within Medicare.
• An overview of the evolution of home-based care in the US since the 1980s.
• The crucial role that technology has played in bringing a broader range of healthcare services to the home.
• Why Medicare is an incredible program on paper, but not always in practice.
• The disproportionately high level of scrutiny that Medicare faces from policymakers.
• The impact that payment policy changes have on what's delivered for care.
• An overview of how Medicare is structured and the impact that proposed budget cuts would have on the industry.
• Why advocacy is essential in helping Congress understand the consequences of blind regulatory action.
• How recent budget cuts in Medicare differ from those made in the 1990s to at-home health care.
• Bill’s assessment of the potential budget cut that congress may enact and why he is hopeful it won’t come to pass.
• The differences between Medicare Advantage plans and traditional Medicare plans.
• Why you can expect better at-home care from traditional Medicare plans.
• Bill’s single word of advice for people working in at-home care: persistence.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Bill Dombi on LinkedIn

National Association for Home Care & Hospice

VNA Health Group Job Opportunities

Email Talent Acquisition at VNA Health Group