Judge Nicholas Garaufis

A judge has ruled that the State of New York was violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by warehousing more than 4,000 people suffering from mental illness in large, privately run “adult homes” in New York City.

The ruling is being seen as a major victory by disability advocates. Continue Reading

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued guidelines assuring that babies born to women covered by Medicaid or CHIP will be automatically enrolled in those programs for 1 year.

This announcement was made in a letter to state health officials (pdf) providing guidance on the implementation of the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA), one of the first bills signed into law by President Obama.

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Last winter, PHI made a strong case for using the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to invest in the direct-care workforce.

That message got through, and in July, the US DOL’s Employment and Training Administration released a solicitation for grant applications (pdf) that offers great opportunities for long-term care providers and others who are seeking funding for workforce training and development.

This latest grant solicitation seeks to fund projects in health care and other high-growth industries. About $125 million will go to projects providing training, education, and job placement assistance to prepare workers to enter the health care field. Grants will range from $2 million to $5 million each.

To help interested parties navigate the grant solicitation process, PHI has prepared a fact sheet (pdf) that answers frequently asked questions regarding DOL priorities, the types of projects that may receive funding, who can apply, and critical deadlines.

News from Washington State

In related news, the Washington State Long Term Care Ombudsman Program recently received $150,000 in stimulus funds for a 15-month pilot project supporting recruitment and retention of South King County’s nursing home workforce, including certified nursing assistants.

Nursing homes will be able to apply for funds to: implement or expand consistent assignment, establish peer mentor programs, promote workforce education in dementia care, remove barriers to employment, or implement other staff retention projects.

“I think the movement to improve the nursing home as a workplace and the movement to improve it as a place to live are coming together in a very positive way, so that a nursing home can be both a better place to live and to work,” says Thomas Konrad. “I think those tendencies reinforce each other.”

Konrad is one of the authors of the Workplace Interventions, Turnover, and Quality of Care Report (pdf) released in June 2009 that details the effects of three distinct workplace interventions aimed at improving staff turnover rates and quality of care in North Carolina’s nursing homes.

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The Commonwealth Fund has released a data brief titled Paying the Price: How Health Insurance Premiums Are Eating Up Middle –Class Incomes (pdf) that examines the trend of rising premiums and projects future premium increases for each of the 50 states.

The report also projects potential savings for families and employers if national reforms are implemented to reduce health care costs by up to 1.5 percent per year.

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Edward M. Kennedy

By the time he died of brain cancer last week at the age of 77, Senator Edward M. Kennedy had achieved an enduring legislative legacy that permanently marks him as one of the most important progressive political leaders in America’s history. The scope of his accomplishments is enormous, extending from civil rights to foreign affairs to consumer protection and more (see the Time magazine feature highlighting Kennedy’s “Top 10 Legislative Battles“). Continue Reading