|
|
|
 |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |
 |
|||
|
All Center Information by Audience Center Publications
|
|
A pdf version of this newsletter can be found at http://www.pascenter.org/newsletter/CenterforPASBulletinApr08.pdf Previous newsletters can be found at http://www.pascenter.org/newsletter/index.php
Center for Personal Assistance Services BulletinApril 2008 - Volume 5, Issue 2In this issue:
The Center for Personal Assistance Services provides research, training, dissemination and technical assistance on issues of personal assistance services (PAS) in the United States. Personal assistance services (PAS) refer to help provided to people with disabilities to assist them with tasks essential for daily living. These tasks include bathing, dressing, getting around, toileting, eating, shopping, remembering things, and other activities. PAS, along with assistive technology such as wheelchairs, text readers, and hearing aides, help people with disabilities to participate in activities at home, at work, and in the community. The purpose of this newsletter is to provide the latest news on issues relating to formal and informal PAS, home & community-based services, the PAS workforce, and workplace PAS within and outside of the Center. Further detail about the Center staff and advisors can be found at http://www.pascenter.org/about/ Policy and LegislationCaring for an Aging America ActSenator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) introduced the Caring for an Aging America Act (S. 2708) on March 5, 2008. This legislation would address the shortage of workers trained in caring for and working with older adults by strengthening the recruitment and retention of health care professionals and social workers into geriatric care practice. The bill would provide loan forgiveness and career advancement opportunities, depending on the job, to physicians, nurses, psych-ologists, social workers, direct care workers and others in similar positions if they agree to specialize in and/ or work with older adults for a certain amount of time. The bill would also establish a Health and Long-Term Care Workforce Advisory Panel for an Aging America in order to identify incentives for recruiting and retaining new clinicians and providers to serve older adults. For more information, go to: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:S.2708.IS: Lifespan Respite Care Program (Kansas) A bill was introduced in the Kansas Senate (S. 657) on February 27, 2008 to establish a lifespan respite care program for caregivers who do not qualify for other publicly funded respite services. The legislation requires a study on the need for respite in the state, and it appropriates funds to support the growth and maintenance of a statewide respite coalition, to identify local training resources for respite providers and to link families to respite services and other support. For the text of the bill, go to: http://www.kslegislature.org/bills/2008/657.pdf On the Center for PAS websiteThe following are new resources available on the Center for PAS website (http://www.pascenter.org): FY 2003 Home and Community Based Data and Updated Contact InformationTwo sets of information concerning Medicaid home and community based services (HCBS) collected by PAS Center researchers are now viewable by state and for the entire United States on the PAS Center website. First, a series of tables report the most recent available (2003) participant and expenditure data for the three Medicaid HCBS programs: (1) the mandatory home health benefit, (2) the optional state plan personal care services benefit, and (3) optional 1915(c) waivers. Second, tables report program descriptions and contact information for all Medicaid 1915(c) waiver programs operating in 2007. To view the Medicaid HCBS data, go to: State Medicaid HCBS data To view the Medicaid waiver data, go to: State Medicaid Waiver data To view the Contact information for Medicaid 1915(c) waiver programs, go to: Contact information for Medicaid 1915(c) waiver programs Report on Nursing Home Staffing Standards Nursing facilities are required by federal regulation to meet minimum standards, which require a minimum of one registered nurse on duty eight hours per day seven days a week. Facilities must also have sufficient nursing staff to provide nursing and related services to attain or maintain the highest practicable physical, mental, and psychosocial well-being of residents. Facilities must also provide sufficient numbers of licensed nursing personnel to provide care on a 24 hour basis to all residents in accordance with resident care plans. A number of states have developed staffing standards that have greater requirements than the federal standards. This report, authored by Charlene Harrington, Ph.D., RN, shows the state staffing standards. Studies have also shown that states with higher staffing standards have more nursing hours of actual care for residents. The adequacy of nurse staffing levels continues to be a major concern in nursing homes and RN staffing levels have dropped by 25 percent since 2000. For retrieve the report, go to: http://www.pascenter.org/documents/Staffing_regulations_1_08.pdf 2007 Nursing Home Data Compendium The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has recently released the 2007 Nursing Home Data Compendium. The compendium contains figures and tables presenting data on all residents in Medicare- and Medicaid-certified nursing homes in the United States. A series of graphs and maps highlights some of the most interesting data, while detailed data are available in accompanying tables. The tables and figures in the compendium were compiled from CMS survey and certification administrative data and nursing home clinical data contained in the Minimum Data Set (MDS). For more information, go to http://www.cms.hhs.gov/CertificationandComplianc/12_NHs.asp New Ask Mike Questions and Responses Recently, Mike Oxford answered a question about how a non-medical home care company can be added to state agency provider lists. To read the all of the Ask Mike letters and responses, go to: http://www.pascenter.org/pas_users/ask_mike.php NewsIFAS Partners with IAHSA for International LTC Workforce StudyThe Institute for the Future of Aging Services (IFAS) is working together with the International Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (IAHSA) to conduct a cross-national study of the long-term care and home care paraprofessional workforce in countries throughout Europe. The project has two primary goals. The first is to help better describe this sector of the European aging services workforce as well as to better understand the issues these workers face and how these issues differ across countries. The second goal is to examine the ways in which health care products and equipment can aid and enhance the daily tasks of this workforce as they care for elders. The project consists of a Web-based survey, focus groups and telephone interviews with long-term care and home care service providers in various countries including the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany. The project is being funded by the Invacare Corporation, a manufacturer and distributor of home medical equipment. For more information, go to: http://www.futureofaging.org/news_events/news/Invacare_project.asp Tennessee: New State Plan Would Increase Access to Home and Community-Based Services, Allow Consumer-Directed Options On March 6, 2008, Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen outlined details of the Long-Term Care Community Choices Act of 2008, the state's plan to increase access to home and community-based services as an alternative to institutional care. The plan would create a single point of entry for people who need long-term care services but are not enrolled in Medicaid, known in the state as TennCare, and it would increase consumer choices and options, subject to federal approval. For example, the plan would allow qualified older adults who need in-home care to use public money to hire a family member or friend to provide that care. The goal of the plan is, over the next six to ten years, to have half of all adults with long-term care needs living and receiving services at home. For more information, go to: http://media.timesfreepress.com/docs/2008/03/Home_care_release.pdf CMS Issues Interim Final Rule on Case Management in Medicaid The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued an interim final rule on December 4, 2007, for case management in the Medicaid program. A Congressional Research Service (CRS) report describes Medicaid case management services, presents major provisions of the proposed Medicaid case management regulation, and provides various perspectives on the targeted case management (TCM) interim final rule. This report is one in a series of reports on the Medicaid regulations. For the report, go to: http://www.pascenter.org/documents/RL34426.pdf Research articles and reportsBarriers to Workers' Compensation and Medical Care for Injured Personal Assistance Services Workers A new paper published by PAS Center researchers Teresa Scherzer, Ph.D., MSW and Nicole Wolfe in Home Health Care Services Quarterly (2008) documents barriers to workers' compensation and injury related medical care faced by homecare or Personal Assistance Services (PAS) workers who sustained a work-related injury. In-depth interviews were conducted with a diverse sample of 38 injured workers – both independent providers and agency-employed workers. Common barriers to reporting injury and accessing medical care included commitments to clients and financial pressure. However, independent providers faced numerous difficulties due in part to the absence of a traditional "employer" or "identifiable management" in the independent provider model of consumer-directed services. The lack of an "identifiable management" has important implications for vulnerable workers' health, consumer well-being, and the sustainability of independent provider consumer-directed PAS programs. The authors provide recommendations that can work within the independent provider consumer-directed model. To retrieve the abstract and purchase the paper, go to: http://www.haworthpress.com/store/ArticleAbstract.asp?ID=109119 New Kaiser Reports Examine Consumer Direction in Four States' Medicaid Programs With a shift towards providing long-term services and supports in the community, policy interest in Medicaid consumer direction of personal assistance services (CD-PAS) has grown. Although overall enrollment in these programs is small, 42 states offered consumer direction in Medicaid in 2006. These programs allow Medicaid beneficiaries control over hiring, scheduling, training and paying of personal care attendants. The Kaiser Family Foundation’s Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured has produced two new reports examining Medicaid’s role in providing CD-PAS in four states – California, Colorado, New York and Virginia. For more information, go to: http://www.kff.org/medicaid/kcmu032408pkg.cfm SELECTED CONFERENCES DURING April, May, and June 2008For more detail about these conferences, go to: http://pascenter.org/conferences/index.php April April 02 - April 05, 2008 April 03, 2008 April 08, 2008 April 08, 2008 April 10 - April 11, 2008 April 12 - April 13, 2008 April 14 - April 15, 2008 April 14 - April 17, 2008 April 15 - April 18, 2008 April 16 - April 18, 2008 April 21 - April 24, 2008 April 21 - April 23, 2008 April 21 - April 23, 2008 April 22 - April 23, 2008 April 22 - April 24, 2008 April 23 - April 25, 2008 May May 01, 2008 May 05, 2008 May 06, 2008 May 08 - May 09, 2008 May 12 - May 14, 2008 May 20, 2008 May 27 - May 29, 2008 June June 05 - June 06, 2008 June 08 - June 10, 2008 June 09 - June 11, 2008 June 10, 2008 June 10, 2008 June 23 - June 26, 2008 For more detail about these conferences, go to: http://pascenter.org/conferences/index.php This document was developed by the Center for Personal Assistance Services, funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDDR) of the US Department of Education, grant #H133BO31102. The opinions contained in this publication are those of the grantee/contractor and do not necessarily reflect those of the US Department of Education. Please credit the source and support of federal funds. To unsubscribe to this Newsletter, please send listserv@listserv.ucsf.edu an email from the email address you wish to unsubscribe with: signoff PAS_NEWS http://www.disabilityinfo.gov
| |