Earlier this year, you had an opportunity to respond to WiHPCA’s Legislative and Regulatory Priorities survey, allowing you to provide your input on what policy issues are most important to you, your organization, and the Wisconsin hospice and palliative care industry. The purpose of surveying the membership was to collect valuable data to help association leadership develop the WiHPCA policy agenda and determine what legislative and regulatory issues the organization should make a priority in 2023-2024.

Together, with your feedback as the foundation of the decision-making process, the WiHPCA Legislative Committee and Board considered the following criteria when finalizing the association’s policy agenda and issue priorities: 1.) The benefit to WiHPCA members; 3.) The extent to which it will improve hospice and palliative care in Wisconsin; and 3.) The likelihood of legislative/regulatory success.

With that in mind, WiHPCA is pleased to present members with our 2023-24 Policy Agenda, which will be used to guide the association’s advocacy efforts over the next two years.

The WiHPCA Policy Agenda provides a broad policy vision for advancing hospice and palliative care in Wisconsin and identifies the following specific legislative and regulatory goals for 2023-24:

• Educate the Wisconsin congressional delegation and state lawmakers on the potential negative impact the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation VBID “Hospice Carve-In” pilot program could have on the long-term viability of hospice care in Wisconsin.

• Educate key state policymakers – including federal and state lawmakers and the WI Department of Health Services – on the inequity of the nursing home room and board Medicaid pass-through billing requirement imposed on hospice care. The ultimate goal is to eliminate or reduce the negative impact of the current policy.

• Promote public awareness and increase policy influence of palliative care, such as the creation of state palliative care advisory council.

Thank you to all WiHPCA members who responded to the Legislative and Regulatory Priorities survey. Your feedback was invaluable to our policy agenda development process.