Dear Friends:

On behalf of the National Association for Home Care and Hospice (NAHC) and the Private Duty Homecare Association (PDHCA), it is our pleasure to invite you to participate in the Private Duty Home Care Leadership Summit.

This meeting will be held at the Doubletree Paradise Valley Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona on January 20 and 21, 2006.

We can't think of a better place to be in January and we would be hard pressed to find a better or more eloquent setting for a meeting. The resort is spectacular and the weather should be warm and sunny.

At the same time, it is hard to imagine a topic which is more important or timely than issues associated with what is called private duty home care - which allows the aged, ill or disabled to remain in their homes instead of an institution.

It is a little known fact, but more private dollars flow into home care than are paid for by Medicare this year. While there are some 7,000 Medicare certified home care agencies there are an estimated three times this many that rely on private as opposed to government financing.

Private duty agencies sometimes provide the same kinds of medical or supportive services rendered by Medicare agencies but more often provide personal care which is not covered by Medicare. This involves helping individuals perform the essential activities of daily living that relate to one or more chronic diseases. Such services include helping individuals to get out of bed, to toilet, to get dressed, feed themselves and make sure they have taken the medications prescribed for them. The fastest growing private duty services relate to providing transportation, bill paying, housekeeping or laundry, grooming assistance and pet care. Such services are also called 'concierge services' or pre-assisted living services.

The 2006 Private Duty Home Care Leadership Summit is designed to explore the realms of private duty and how it differs from a Medicare based home care practice. The goal is to help agencies position themselves for the future. With the nation's Governors looking to 'rebalance' their expenditures from institutional care into home and community based care, the opportunities presented will be great. The movement to consumer directed and customized care will also fuel the number of organizations who provide private duty services.

There are many organizations who have achieved success in the private duty realm and vendors who have adapted to help them meet their needs. PDHCA and NAHC have come together to bring this expertise to the greater home care community. Given the pace of change, this meeting is a must for those who want to shape the future instead of react when it soon becomes a reality.