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A pdf version of this newsletter can be found at http://www.pascenter.org/newsletter/CenterforPASBulletinApr10.pdf Previous newsletters can be found at http://www.pascenter.org/newsletter/index.php Center for Personal Assistance Services BulletinApril 2010 - Volume 7, 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 NewsLong Term Care Legislation Passes In Health Care Reform BillOn March 23, 2010, President Obama signed comprehensive health reform, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, into law. The following summary of the new law, and changes made to the law by subsequent legislation, focuses on provisions to expand coverage, control health care costs, and improve health care delivery system. In this newly signed and historic, "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" legislation, several long term care components are included. For a summary of the legislation, including the long term care pieces go to: Federal Hiring Event For People With DisabilitiesThe Office of Personnel Management and the U. S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy are sponsoring a historic day-long federal hiring event for people with disabilities on April 26, 2010. For more information go to: CMS Sanctions Missouri Medicaid For Overly Restrictive Home Health StandardsThe Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has informed the Director of Missouri's Department of Social Services that the state is out of compliance with Medicaid law and that it will be sanctioned by the withholding of a portion of the federal share of payments until it comes into compliance. For more information go to: Overview Of The Boundaries Of A State's Medicaid Home Health Service StandardThis issue brief from the National Senior Citizens Law Center, provides an overview of the boundaries of a state's Medicaid home health service standard, including a discussion of the controversy in Missouri. For more information go to: Times Advocates to End Home Care Aide Pay DiscriminationFrom our friends at PHI. For the fourth time in three years, the New York Times published an editorial calling for overturning the 1975 federal labor regulation that exempts agency-employed home care workers from federal minimum wage and overtime protections that were enacted over 70 years ago. For more information go to: New Technical Assistance Newsletter To Assist The Aging And Lifespan Respite NetworksThe National Center on Caregiving at Family Caregiver Alliance in partnership with ARCH Lifespan Respite Network and Resource Center brings a new Technical Assistance Newsletter to assist the Aging and Lifespan Respite Networks in family caregiver support and lifespan respite program development. For more information go to: PHI Campaign Calls for Fair Pay for Home Care WorkersPHI has launched a social media campaign calling on Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary Hilda Solis to end the exclusion of home care workers from minimum wage and overtime protections. For more information go to: Research Articles and ReportsNew PAS Center Report On Demographics And Trends In Wheeled Mobility Equipment Use And Accessibility In The CommunityIn this new PAS Center report , Dr. Mitch LaPlante & Dr. H. Stephen Kaye present a profile of household-resident U.S. adults using wheeled mobility equipment (WME) in 2005, trends in WME use from 1990 to 2005, and data on accessibility features and problems from 1994-97. Data were obtained from the Survey of Income and Program Participation and the National Health Interview Survey on Disability. For more information go to: PAS Center Publication Evaluates The Performance Of Two Disability Assessment MeasuresIn this PAS Center study, Dr. Mitch LaPlante evaluates, by age, the performance of 2 disability measures based on needing help: one using 5 classic activities of daily living (ADL) and another using an expanded set of 14 activities including instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), walking, getting outside, and ADL (IADL/ADL). For more information go to: New Metlife Study Of Working Caregivers And Employer Health Care CostsEmployees responsible for eldercare report more health problems than non-caregiving employees and cost U.S. employers an estimated $13 billion annually. Demographic trends indicate that a greater number of employees of all ages will assume the role of family caregiver for an increasingly older population. For more information go to: New Report Analyses Medical Expenditures And Service Use Of Medicaid Buy-In ParticipantsSince its inception, the Medicaid Buy-In program has offered state policymakers an important option for providing health care coverage to working adults with disabilities. More than 200,000 people have enrolled in the program at some point between 1997 and 2007, and as a result, have access to health services covered by their state Medicaid plans. For more information go to: States Describe Early Implementation Experiences Of State Money Follows The Person ProgramsThe Money Follows the Person (MFP) demonstration provides federal grant funds to 29 states and the District of Columbia to support state efforts to rebalance their long-term care systems over a seven-year period. Under the demonstration, MFP states are planning to transition about 34,000 individuals from institutional settings to community-based care between 2007 and 2013. In this report by Denny-Brown & Lipson, the authors describes states' early implementation experiences and state transition activity as of December 2008. It also discusses the challenges that states have encountered in trying to launch the program, and implications for making fundamental changes in the long-term care system. For more information go to: New State Fact Sheets On The Direct-Care WorkforceThese individual fact sheets from PHI give an overview of the direct-care workforce in the following states: Pennsylvania, New York City, Iowa, Illinois, Massachusetts , Vermont & Michigan. For more information go to: Report Estimates The Quantity And Economic Value Of Informal Care Provided To Older Persons During Their Final Year Of Life In The CommunityFamily members provide substantial assistance during the last year of life for older people who die in the community. If the informal care provided in the last year of life is replaced with a home aide, the total economic value for the United States would be approximately $1.4 billion (in 2002). For more information go to: New Chartbook Examining The Impact Of Chronic Conditions On Individuals And CaregiversThis 2010 update of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's 2002 chartbook, examines the impact of chronic conditions on individuals and their caregivers, as well as the inadequacies of the U.S. health care system to meet their needs. For more information go to: New Study Looks At The Views And Experiences Of Employers On Issues Involving The Provision Of PAS In The WorkplaceThe purpose of this study was to understand difficult and complex issues surrounding work-related PAS. Focus groups were conducted to gather views and experiences of employers on issues involved with the provision and use of PAS in the workplace. For more information go to: PHI Updates Two Fact Sheets On The Direct-Care Workforce To Reflect The Most Current Federal DataThe first fact sheet presents the latest occupational employment projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the three official job titles that make up the direct-care workforce: nursing assistants, home health aides, and personal and home care aides. The second fact sheet provides a detailed overview of the current demographic and economic characteristics of the direct-care workforce. For more information go to: New Report Looks At The Net Fiscal Impact Of The In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) Program On The Public SectorThe IHSS program is the fastest-growing major social services program, providing care for over 430,000 recipients, at an annual total cost of about $5.5 billion. The program, which is available to low-income elderly and disabled persons, provides various services to recipients in their own homes and can enhance the quality of life for recipients by making it easier to live at home. For more information go to: New Policy Note Analyzes The Likely Consequences Of The January 2010 Cuts In Community-Based ServicesThe 2010-2011 California budget proposal released in January by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's office proposes deep cuts in community-based services available to low-income seniors and low-income Californians of all ages with disabilities. The cuts will make it much more difficult for many older adults to continue to live safely in their own homes, create hardships for their families, lead to a loss of jobs and health insurance by direct service providers, and close many adult day care centers. For more information go to: New Fact Sheet Highlights The Proposed Senior-Related Program Reductions In California's BudgetThis fact sheet from the SCAN Foundation highlights the proposed program reductions that will impact seniors and their caretakers. Examples include cuts to the In-Home Supportive Services program, elimination of the Adult Day Health Care program, and reductions to the Supplemental Security Income/State Supplementary Payment. For more information go to: Policy and LegislationUpdates to Policy/Legislation PageThe following have recently been added to the policy/legislation page: Alzheimer's Family Assistance Act of 2009 (S. 2958/H.R. 1192) For more information go to: Long Term Care Legislation Passes In Health Care Reform BillMike Oxford recounts the details of the passage of health care legislation and the PAS provisions within it. For more information go to: Brief Examines State Medicaid Long-Term Care PoliciesThis Policy Brief explains why Medicaid policies lead to so much variation in current state Medicaid long-term care programs, and how those policies have been used in some states to expand the range and availability of services. It also draws lessons from innovative states to suggest reforms in national Medicaid policies that would make home- and community-based services accessible to more program participants. For more information go to: New Report On Laws That Expressly Prohibit Employment Discrimination Based On Parental Or Familial Status Or Family ResponsibilitiesWhile family responsibilities discrimination (FRD) is currently illegal under an array of state and federal laws, to date only two states and a number of localities prohibit it explicitly. FRD is a widespread and costly problem for employers and employees alike. As a result, policymakers and advocates in several states have begun to propose state legislation to address the issue. For more information go to: CMA Weekly Alert Presents A Brief Summary Of The Medicare Coverage Which Can Be Available To People With Chronic ConditionsPeople with chronic conditions and long-term illnesses are too often denied Medicare coverage on the grounds that they will not improve, need "maintenance services only," have "plateaued" or are "chronic and stable". Taken together, these reasons are referred to here as the Medicare "Improvement Standard." Because Medicare is often the sole or primary insurance for this population, Medicare coverage denials often result in the loss of necessary health care. For more information go to: On the Center for PAS WebsiteThe following are new resources available on the Center for PAS website (http://www.pascenter.org): New Data Analysis On The PAS WorkforceThis new PAS Center analysis by Dr. H. Stephen Kaye looks at the size and characteristics of the PAS workforce during the period 2005-07. Data is available by state and nationwide and is based on a three-year combined sample of data from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey. For more information go to: New Research Project On Emergency Preparedness For PAS UsersThe increased demand for PAS during emergencies and disaster situations is an important dimension to the overall task of raising awareness of the needs of people with disabilities. This new research project will focus on strategies to coordinate and secure PAS services during national and regional emergencies . For more information go to: Transcripts And Archive Available For Recent PAS Center WebinarThe transcripts and archive of Terence Ng's February 10th, webinar, titled, "An Analysis Of Medicare And Medicaid In Long-Term Care And Suggestions Of Reform" are now available online. For more information go to: New Ask Mike Questions And ResponsesRecently, Mike Oxford answered questions concerning:
To read all of the Ask Mike letters and responses, go to: Selected Conferences During April, May and June 2010For more detail about these conferences, go to:http://www.pascenter.org/conferences/index.php April
April 13, 2010
Employer Best Practices
Hosted By: JAN Location: Webcast, 2 pm eastern http://www.jan.wvu.edu/webcast/ April 20, 2010 Conducting Effective Accessibility Surveys Part II Hosted By: National Network of DBTAC-Regional ADA Centers Location: Webcast, 1 pm central http://www.ada-audio.org/Schedule/ April 26, 2010 Federal Hiring Expo For People And Veterans With Disabilities Hosted By: US Office of Personnel Management and the US Dept. of Labor Location: Washington, DC. http://www.usajobs.gov/DisabilityHiringEvent.asp April 27 - April 28, 2010 2010 Tenth Annual Multiple Perspectives On Access, Inclusion, And Disability: Future History Hosted By: Ohio State University Location: Ohio State University, Columbia Campus http://ada.osu.edu/conferences/2010Conf/callforpapers10.html May
May 03 - May 04, 2010
NARRTC 2010 Annual Conference
Hosted By: NARRTC (formerly National Association of Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers) Location: Alexandria, VA http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/edi/narrtc/index.shtml May 10, 2010 System Linkages: A Demonstration Hosted By: Easter Seals and Wayne State University Location: Webinar 3 p.m. - 4 p.m. EST http://sabeusa.org/?catid=204 May 11, 2010 Accommodations for Individuals with Mental Health Impairments Hosted By: JAN Location: Webcast, 2 pm eastern http://www.jan.wvu.edu/webcast/ May 12 - May 14, 2010 Keep It Real! Youth Leadership Development In Centers For Independent Living Hosted By: NCIL Location: Atlanta, GA. http://www.ncil.org/training/YouthLeadership2010.html June
June 08, 2010
Assistive Technology Update
Hosted By: JAN Location: Webcast, 2 pm eastern http://www.jan.wvu.edu/webcast/ June 14, 2010 Liability And Safety In Family Support Navigation Hosted By: Easter Seals and Wayne State University Location: Webinar 3 p.m. - 4 p.m. EST http://sabeusa.org/?catid=204 June 20 - June 23, 2010 2010 National ADA Symposium Hosted By: Network of DBTAC ADA Centers Location: Denver, CO. http://www.adasymposium.org/ 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 Was Very Helpful • Was Somewhat Helpful • Was Not Helpful • Has Errors
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