“AAHomecare has been evolving,” said Tom Ryan, president and CEO of AAHomecare. “The non believers had a perception that we were just one lane in DC. We’ve been working on the state payor issues. We are everywhere. We are in your hometown. The mission has gotten larger.”

With Jay Witter, senior vice president of Public Policy, Kim Brummett, vice president of Regulatory Affairs, and Laura Williard, senior director of Payer Relations, AAHomecare staff members tackled wide ranging issues, frequently circling back to their considerable work on the state and regulatory levels.

Williard illustrated the point with her description of block grants. “The state gets a bucket of money to manage their Medicaid program,” Williard said. “We have to be proactive when these things come up. We have to be sure we are at the table to help them manage that bucket of money. The fear is that they will reduce reimbursement…We have an opportunity to go out and sell ourselves.”