Vicki Hoak, who recently departed as CEO of the Home Care Association of America, believes that one of her legacies is the elevation of the home care worker profession. As she embarks on her first national HCAOA conference as CEO emeritus, she also sees unfinished business for her successor with the lack of national personal caregiver standards and data collection to prove the value of nonmedical home care. In a podcast with McKnight's Home Care, she took stock of her tenure.
Vicki Hoak, who began as the head of the Home Care Association of America on the eve of the COVID-19 pandemic, is proud of the work the association did to communicate with members. She is also pleased that the pandemic helped to shine a light on the value that home care workers provide. At the upcoming national conference, Hoak, who has been an advocate for home care for 25-plus years, is looking forward to thanking members for their hard work. Looking ahead, she sees enormous potential with Medicare Advantage and its coverage of home care as a supplemental benefit. She’d also like to see more members join HCAOA to raise the voice of home care workers in Washington, DC. Following the conference, her first order of business is to take a long walk in the woods of Pennsylvania and reflect on her home care advocacy work and the friendships she has made.