Former Representative and home care Champion Nelson Dollar joins Speaker of the House Tim Moore’s staff as Senior Policy Advisor
Lawmakers returned to Raleigh on January 9 for the 2019-2021 long legislative session. We expect to see some changes in committee assignments and leadership, especially in the House Appropriations for Health & Human Service (HHS), with the election defeat of Chairman Nelson Dollar.
Dollar–the former chairman of the House Appropriation Committee—has transitioned from the public sector to a senior policy advisor to the Speaker of the House Tim Moore. Dollar has been a home care champion for years and was named BAYADA’s Legislator of the Year in 2016 and 2018 for his efforts. He was instrumental in securing much needed Medicaid reimbursement rates increases for nursing and aide services. He has also been instrumental in protecting from elimination the Certificate of Need (CON) process for our Medicare offices. His expertise and knowledge on complex issues at the statehouse will serve North Carolina well. As you may recall, Dollar lost his seat by 884 votes last November to Democrat Julie von Haefen.
While we are sad to see our former Champion lose this leadership position, there are other home care Champions that we anticipate seeing in key roles. We expect to see Representatives Donny Lambeth and Josh Dobson as co-chairs of HHS. Further, we anticipate Senators Ralph Hise and Joyce Krawiec in chair positions serving the Finance and/or Health Committees. All four legislators are well-versed in home care and the challenges our clients and staff regularly face throughout North Carolina due to our collective advocacy efforts. This puts BAYADA in a great position to move forward with our next round of asks.
Our major reimbursement priority this session is to increase the Medicaid private duty nursing (PDN) rate from $39.60 to $45.00 over the course of two years. This increase is necessary to help us recruit and retain the high quality, compassionate nurses we need to care for the many North Carolinians that need skilled care to stay at home.
Sharing your voice is key to achieving our goals: Be sure to look for opportunities to advocate as we seek to support our clients and staff. Of note, please save the date and be sure to look out for communications regarding our Legislative Day, which will be held in Raleigh on May 1.
