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Independent Living News & Policy from the National Council on Independent Living

Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) Call to Action

The NCIL EVV Taskforce, formed in Spring 2018, has been hard at work on strategies to reverse the use of surveillance in electronic visit verification (EVV) for Medicaid-funded home care services. Promoted largely by for-profit companies that stand to reap windfall profits from the sales of their systems to states, EVV has been shown to be more harmful than good to people with disabilities and their care providers.

The successes of our communities rely on NCIL members and the broader disability community mobilizing to spread a single message to elected officials. There are two new opportunities you can join right now to help fight against EVV!

Support the COVID-19 Recovery for Seniors and People with Disabilities Act (H.R. 6951 / S. 3740) sponsored by Senators Bob Casey, Sherrod Brown, and Doug Jones in the Senate and Representative Janice Schakowsky

In addition to providing vital support for independent living services for seniors and people with disabilities, S. 3740 and H.R. 6951 specifically recognizes that EVV is a barrier to home and community-based services. The bill would delay implementation of EVV until six months after the end of the national public health emergency.

An additional delay gives the disability and senior communities time to organize around legislative initiatives that will ban the use of geolocation and biometrics in EVV.

Contact your Senators to ask for their support and YES vote on S.3740 COVID-19 Recovery for Seniors and People with Disabilities Act to delay EVV. Contact your Congressional Representative to ask for their support and YES vote on H.R. 6951.

Support the 21st Century Cures Act 2.0 sponsored by Representatives DeGette and Upton

Provided as an update to the original Cures Act, which requires EVV, Cures 2.0 is bipartisan legislation. With support of a coalition of advocacy groups, including NCIL, the House Energy & Commerce Committee will introduce legislative clarification to the Cures Act late this year or early next that year will eliminate geolocation (GPS) and biometrics in EVV.

We must continue to demonstrate the community’s support of Cures 2.0 with these EVV changes to ensure it passes. Use the NCIL survey results (below) as talking points.

Contact your Congressional Representative to ask for their support and YES vote on the 21st Century Cures 2.0 proposal with EVV changes.

NCIL Survey Demonstrates EVV Implementation Causing Severe Harm to Disabled People, Disrupting Home Care Services

Justified as necessary to address unsubstantiated claims of fraud and abuse in delivery of Medicaid-funded home care services, EVV is now being implemented in different versions across the nation. In reality, EVV creates government surveillance that discourages personal care service workers from taking these jobs, resulting in more people with significant disabilities ending up in nursing homes because they can’t get the care they need.

The NCIL EVV Task Force conducted a nationwide survey with a goal to answer what effect EVV was having on quality of life, provision of services, and independent living stability.

Read the survey results in PDF, Word, or plain text.

Survey results indicate that EVV use is systematically dismantling the control disabled people have in directing their personal care services. Further, because of its outrageous privacy rights violations, EVV has caused significant worker shortages principally due to workers not wanting to be surveilled by the government.

Prohibition of GPS tracking and biometric data use in EVV would provide protections against the worst of the harm being caused.

NCIL needs you to act to stop the damage that EVV is causing! Help save our people from unnecessary institutionalization!

Contact your Senators and Congressional Representative by phone or email today.

Tweet your Congressmembers using their @ handle and include #WeAreEssential #StopEVV.

Send the survey results to Congress members. Use this data and information when you speak about EVV.

Share this action alert with your family, friends and social media networks!

Comments

  1. Valerie Joseph says

    EVV is unjust and it also unrealistic for those who work 8 hour days, It also does not add up with the population that are not home bodies.

  2. Lisa Cotter says

    This is an invasive attack by the far left to further invade the rights and privacy of the American people. We can not submit to their attacks on our way of life.

    • PAUL CLEGHORN/ANGELA CLEGHORN says

      EVV IS A PYRAMID SCAM-IT GENERATES MONEY FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT AS WELL AS THE HOME HEALTH AGENCIES INVOLVED, AND WAS NEVER DESIGNED TO STOP MEDICAID FRAUD -THATS JUST A HOAX BECAUSE EVV HAS NO CAPACITY TO STOP ANY KIND OF FRAUD—ITS JUST A MONEY MAKING RACKET OPERATING UNDER THE GUISE OF A MEDICAID FRAUD PREVENTION SYSTEM–ITS CRIMINAL IN NATURE FROM BEGINNING TO END!! I WANT 60 MINUTES OR 20/20 OR THE NEW YORK TIMES TO INVESTIGATE ON NATIONAL TELEVISION-EVERYONE NEEDS TO GET NATIONAL MEDIA INVOLVED-I AM TRYING TO DO THIS-!!

      • Marla Aycock says

        We have a special needs daughter and have just been notified about EVV! We (her parents) are outraged!!!
        We, her parents switched her medicare waiver to the self-direct model so we could hire quality help.
        We’ve had major trouble hiring our latest employee as the fiscal agent has kept stalling putting her on the payroll for at least a month. Today they tell us we have to use the new EVV model called Tellus even though the EVV is not going into effect until July 1st.
        Please keep us updated. We didn’t even know about EVV until this last week.
        Marla Aycock

  3. PAUL CLEGHORN/ANGELA CLEGHORN says

    sandata was the top of th pyramid. they are a group of italian guys from new york city who have been involved in several failed get-rich-quick schemes, they lobbied for evv and somehow (DOLLAAR SIGNS$$) got evv lobbied, they tried to be a monopoly and sued another evv vendor-but sandata lost the lawsuit. SANDATA HAS A A GREEN TWISTED SNAKE LOGO-SOME WITH TWO SNAKES=OTHERS WITH THE TAIL OF A GREEN SNAKE WITH SCALE-LIKE PATTERNS ON THE TAIL….(OCCULT SYMBOL) THERE IS A MONEY TRAIL FROM ALL EVV VENDORS THAT GOES TO FEDERAL ORGANIZATIONS TO STATE ORGANIZATIONS THEN TO THE HOME HEALTH AGENCIES (a pyramid scheme_all involved get a piece of evv pie!!_–except the victims of evv-HOMEHEALTH CARE WORKERS AND DISABLED AND ELDERLY PEOPLE GET NOTHING-AND THE TAXES TAKEN OUT OF THE HOMECARE WORKERS PAYCHECK ARE USED TO PAY FOR THE EVV SYSTEMS AND DEVICES–HORRENDOUS BUT TRUE!! EVV IS PITCHED TO HOME HEALTH AGENCIES AS A TOOL BY WHICH THEIR AGENCY CAN CUT DOWN EXPENDITURES-THEREFORE MAKING THEIR COMPANY RICHER!! (the ads are online from various vendors) EVV DOESNT STOP MEDICAID FRAUD-IT PROVES NOTHING CONCERNING SERVICES PROVIDED AND NO PROOF WHATSOEVER THAT AN ATTENDANT WAS EVER PRESENT IN A DISABLED PERSONS HOME-THAT IS JUST A FALSE PREMISE THAT WAS USED TO CONVINCE DISABLED PEOPLE AND HOME HEALTH CARE WORKERS IT WAS LEGITIMATE—IN REALITY ITS A PHONY WORTHLESS FAKE SYSTEM THAT GENERATES MONEY FOR HHS ,HOME HEALTH AGENCIES AND FEFERAL AGENCIES VIA KICKBACKS AND BRIBES!! AND IT ALSO STEALS MONEY FROM THE HOME HEALTH WORKER BY USING THE WORD “CLAIM” IN ORDER TO JUSTIFY NON-PAYMENT FOR HOURS IF THEY DONT CLOCK IN AND OUT EXACTLY RIGHT-THATS MAKING A SLAVE OUT OF A HOME HEALTH CARE WORKER BY CAUSING THEM TO WORK FREE!! EVV IS AN EVIL NATIONAL AND STATE GOVERNMENT RACKET THAT EXPLOITS DISABLED PEOPLE ABD THEIR CAREGIVERS!! IT HAS NO MERIT WHATSOEVER-AND ALL INVOLVED WITH ITS IMPLEMENTION AND ENFORCEMENT SHOULD BE IN A FEDERAL PENITENTIARY!!

    • Carol Ann says

      Yes you are so correct Paul Cleghorn/Angela. After 10 years of service my small business had to close because of this system. I worked on a flat rate. The people that I cared for use to live in Group Homes and Nursing homes. They fail between the cracks and did not need to be in those types of setting. They all where doing well in my SIL{ Supportive Independent Living Apartment} Now they will once again displace. Ten years of living in there own home and having a care provider on call. That worked extremely well for the people I serve. Not only that I am out of a job that I really enjoyed.

  4. We need help to stop this. The parents of disabled kids are tired enough. I am not allowing blatant government monitoring in my house!

  5. Carol Ann says

    People are quitting. No one wants there privacy under attack just because they need home services. Also many businesses has closed because they are 24 hour on call and the evv system do not support that. I had over a decade of a flat rate pay for persons that where in group homes and Nursing Homes. A flat rate pay was more cost affective than that. I had to close after over tens years of service. This is not to add that I am now unemployed in all this covid. Where do we all go from here? Most of all the people are being displaced. They where happy in there own home. This need to change.

  6. james kimble jr says

    Heres another truth corporate greed has left its ugly skid mark on. 10 yrs ago my mother had a really bad stroke. Not the usual vein collapsed or exploded kind but the kind where your blood pressure gets so high emts and ems instruments dont have the numbers on them to show it. The kind that puts so much pressure on the brain that the only option the working class poor have is drilling ahole in the back of the neck to let the blood drain down your throat to ease any pain they think you may be having..Im glad i got there b4 the pro did to hold her hand and gently rub the back of her neck while telling her i wasnt going to let anyone hurt her.Read lots of books that agreed 5 or six yrs was the average life expectancy for victims of the damage to the brain.She made it to the step down unit while i spoke to the doc on the phone (we never did meet ) Telling me he was stuck in traffic when he was on the golf course.He said my mom was being released the next day to a rehab which is what they call a corporate nursing home with a pair of dumbells and a table/deck looking thing in it. Anyway one night and most of a dhe ay latter i broke her out of there and brought her home.the nurse told me i couldnt use rhere wheel chair to get her to the car so i just lifted her up and carried her in my arms while we talked about what flavor milkshake would be good on the way home.So I get home and i hear about home health and independent choices. I thought what a wonderful thing i can stay with her and our money they stole out of our chks from her for 29 yrs would let us make it without having to live 3rd world poor. The stroke didnt draw her face up so much as you could tell or effect her memory or mind hardly at all. It did however wipe out her equalibrium and her left side really severe. We have been doing so well on the meager ssn and palco allowance that life was going to be ok.Then evv came along and palco just didnt acknowledge they had ever heard of us so my taxes and my mothers taxes just got cut off so software companies can make a big paydayand my dang cellphone has been blowing up with medical companies trying to seel me junk. this is crazy. i dont pay visits or provide a quick service this is how we lived and didnt need snap or pua or stimulus which i got none of. I work. i pay medicare and fica every pay day AND NOW im told just hang in there!

  7. Scott Grant says

    EVV is a waste of tax dollars and puts greater burden on the families who are the most in need of services and support. Where are you at with regards to fighting this? Have you reached out to the media? How can I join to help?