For the last several years, WiAHC has been advocating to eliminate this outdated requirement in state regulations that require home health agencies to create professional advisory bodies and hold annual meetings. WiAHC has been advocating for this change since professional advisory committees were removed from federal regulations in 2017, as home health agencies are already overseen by a governing body pursuant to federal regulations.  In addition, home health agencies are also overseen by governing bodies in Wisconsin regulations.  In 2017, the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) also put in place federal regulations requiring home health agencies to implement ongoing quality assessment and performance improvement (QAPI) programs.  Essentially, CMS replaced professional advisory committees in federal regulations with the creation of the QAPI program.

In January 2023, WiAHC formally requested that DHS eliminate professional advisory bodies for home health care agencies in the agency’s biennial rules review – a process by which DHS makes technical changes and updates to existing state regulations. DHS agreed to include this change in their 2023 biennial rules review. Subsequently, WiAHC submitted written and verbal testimony to DHS in 2025 supporting the elimination of professional advisory bodies.

According to the state Administrative Code, which includes all Wisconsin state regulations, the state Department of Health Services (DHS) 2023 biennial rules review that eliminates home health agency professional advisory bodies from state regulations took effect on March 1, 2024. Therefore, as is reflected in the state Administrative Code, there is no longer a requirement for home health agencies in Wisconsin to put in place professional advisory bodies and hold annual meetings. Thanks to the advocacy of WiAHC members, WiAHC was successful in advocating to eliminate this duplicative and burdensome requirement in state regulations! However, WiAHC members may want to consider seeking independent legal counsel when implementing this change.