Inaction trickles down

James E. DeVoe – Guest essayist
Essays – November 28, 2009 - 6:00am

James DeVoe

Wayne Gretzky, the hockey legend and the NHL’s all-time scoring record holder, once said, “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.” Likewise, it is the wise baseball coach who tells his younger players, “If you’re going to strike out, at least go down swinging.”

So please, Albany, enough already with the stagnation, inaction and waffling. While you sit on your hands trying to figure out what to do to make things work, the rest of us are left trying to figure out how to do our work with what you’re not doing. And what you’re not doing is:

establishing a definitive strategic vision.

creating an effective and efficient plan to arrive at that vision.

implementing a plan.

staying the course.

Instead all we have gotten out of Albany is:

an unfulfilled “promise” to finally re-base our 1983 base-year Medicaid rates to a more fair and current 2005 base-year in 2009.

a stall tactic that as of yet has not produced or paid us this promised revised Medicaid rate.

a “temporary” reduction in our Medicaid rate while Albany is “working out” the implementation plan details of a new Medicaid rate.

a “sudden” change of plans when Albany unilaterally came up with a new Medicaid Regional Pricing idea.

a lack of clarity on what our final 2009 and 2010 Medicaid rates will look like or when they will be paid.

In the interim, we are left in the dark while continuing to care for the elders of your state for whom you pledged to represent and serve. Your failure to pay us what you promised has left us with deficits and debts that we must now recover from. Your lack of clarity makes it impossible for us to make informed decisions or long-term strategies. Your inaction leaves us helpless in our attempt to rationalize what action we need to take.

So please, Albany, get your act together and just do it! Better that we at least know where we stand, so we can plan for where we need to go. But don’t take back what you already promised and don’t look backwards at what already has passed. It’s unfair and unconscionable to expect us to absorb or plan for reductions retroactively enacted. Look forward, establish a vision, create and implement a manageable plan, and stick to it.

If you can at least give us a clear and reachable target to aim for, we might stand a chance to hit it.

If you can at least tell us where our final destination is, we can hopefully set a course to get there. If you can at least provide us with a rule book, we can try to play the game.

But please, Albany, give us something and just do it!

DeVoe is president/CEO of Seniorsfirst Communities & Services.