PCA services affected by funding suspensions

DULUTH, Minn. — On Christmas Eve, Heartland PCA, a home care agency in northern Minnesota, received notice from the Department of Human Services that payments were being suspended under a new federal Medicaid pre-payment review process.

Heartland PCA says their agency, along with 600 others, was impacted yesterday by an abrupt halt in payments, tied to fraud concerns, involving 14 federally funded services. Heartland provides in-home care for seniors and people with disabilities, including personal care, homemaker support, and community-based services. With payments suspended, agencies across the state could be facing 30 to 90 days without funding. This puts staff payroll and essential care for hundreds of vulnerable clients at risk.

“I think for the home care agencies to stop payment and expect them to cover payrolls for a month is really hard, so it puts the companies struggling financially, and it’s very scary,” said Anna Buchanan, CEO of Heartland PCA.

Heartland says it will borrow funds to pay employees, but many smaller agencies can’t, which can cause even more problems.

“The main thing that we want to draw attention to is that it’s really going to affect our vulnerable populations here in Minnesota, and that means our elderly populations and people who are not able to care for themselves,” Alyssa Bonner, program coordinator and compliance officer at Heartland PCA. “So that’s really where we’re worried, is, how is that going to negatively impact them?”

The agency urges people to check in on neighbors and reach out to local and state representatives, which they have already done.