Tag Results: "HCBS Report"
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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a "tentative" final version of the OASIS-C to the Federal Register on March 9, 2009 and responds to public comments on the proposed changes.
AAHSA Online CommunitiesWelcome to AAHSA's Online Communities. These communities are designed to help you connect and communicate with your friends and colleagues as efficiently and effectively as possible. These communities are a central place for members like you to learn
There are many ways that adult day centers can work in conjunction with Money Follows the Person (MFP) grants. MFP money can assist states in transitioning and or preventing institutionalization.
AAHSA (and Lifespan) housing member, B’nai B’rith Homecrest House in Silver Spring, is one of 28 sites in Maryland that is participating in the Congregate Housing Support Services Program (CHSP) this year.
New CMS Survey and Certification Letter, Impact of Nursing Shortage on Hospice
Fiscal Year 2009 LIHEAP Funds Distribution Information Released
On October 16, the Social Security Administration announced that Social Security and Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries will receive a 5.8 percent benefit increase in 2009.
Individuals Discharged From the Hospital Look to Home Health
Did You Miss AAHSA’s Annual Meeting? If So, Click Here To Find Out How to Order Session CDs and DVDs!
Medicare Rx, Managed Care Plan Info Available Online for Beneficiaries
The Medical Home program seeks to reduce the fragmented care that Medicare patients with multiple chronic care conditions often receive and to improve the quality of care that patients receive (particularly through case management services). In September 2009, President Obama and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced more details on the program, specifically that the three-year pilot plan is modeled after a program being tested in Vermont.
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) in their 2009 work plan calls for
a review of the appropriateness of Medicaid payments for adult day
health services.
Long-Term Care Insurance Consumers Want Home Care Benefit, Unum Study Says
Billings Clinic opens a Program of All-inclusive Care for the
Elderly (PACE) with centers in Billings, Mont., serving Yellowstone
County and Livingston, Mont.
A proposal to create the Missouri Quality Homecare Council passed on November 4, 2008.
An initiative for more home Care worker training passes in Washington state.
New Book Offers Hope for Dementia through the Arts
CMS submits CAHPS Home Health Care Survey to the National Quality Forum for Approval
CMS Announces New Guidelines for Special Needs Plans
New Wall Street Journal Article on Intentional Communities and NORCs
Florida: Medicare Investigating Home Health Fraud in Miami Area
The Gerontology Institute University of Massachusetts Boston just released its recent study of Adult Day Health Services in Massachusetts. Best practices highlighted in the study include offering appropriate, diverse and quality programming, stage specific programming to ensure the safety, and interests and abilities of individuals.
The Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCS) is unveiling a new model for home-health assistance. Under the Self Directed Attendant Care program, elderly and physically disabled members of AHCCCS’ Arizona Long-Term Care System (ALTCS) will be able to pick their own caregivers, who may include spouses and other family members. This could hurt the estimated 500 companies that provide that type of service in the state. About 40 companies have ALTCS contracts.
The revised publication titled Medicare Billing Information for Rural Providers, Suppliers, and Physicians (October 2008), which consists of charts that provide Medicare billing information for home health agencies is now available.
Facing a $4 billion budget deficit, New York City plans to reduce the Department for the Aging's budget for "non-core social services.”
Home care workers in Massachusetts approve a new labor contract that includes pay hikes and increased benefits.
Although legislation enacted in early 2008 allows Medicare beneficiaries to continue renting oxygen equipment as long as it is medically necessary for them, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a proposed rule that would severely limit reimbursement to medical equipment suppliers who service the equipment. Your residents may be receiving advance notification from their suppliers about the impending cutbacks in service, since the rule will take effect Jan. 1, 2009.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) originally issued a final rule that allows states to increase Medicaid cost-sharing and premium charges, a move that has been criticized as potentially harming low-income beneficiaries. CMS published the final rule in the Nov. 25, 2008, Federal Register. CMS is now stating that they are going to delay the implementation of the final rule (74 Fed. Reg. 13346) until Dec. 31, 2009, and they will be reopening the comment period on the policies set out in the rule, and asking specifically for comments on the effect of certain provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
According to a new report by the National Association of State Units on Aging, 70 percent of states anticipate budget cuts for services in 2009. Even though 80 percent of the states report increases in the calls for services, 40 percent of states are looking at reducing Older Americans Act Programs, and 30 percent of states indicated that they may be reducing services covered under Medicaid HCBS waivers.
Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcieri (R) and Kerry Weems, acting
administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS),
are reportedly nearing completion on Rhode Island’s proposal to
establish a global Medicaid waiver.
Economic woes are forcing 12 adult day facilities in New York City to close by the end of December. The state estimates that these closures will save $1.2 million by the end of this fiscal year.
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan says the state's backlog of bills has slowed payment to care providers, such as adult daycare centers and nursing homes.
The Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA) is now accepting applications for its Rural Passenger Transportation Technical Assistance Program and Tribal Passenger Transportation Technical Assistance Program. Both programs provide in-depth planning assistance to rural and tribal communities to help establish new transit services, expand, enhance or improve existing services, or develop transit facilities.
The Alzheimer's Foundation of America (AFA) awarded its "Excellence in Care Dementia Program of Distinction" status to IONA Adult Day Health, Wellness & Arts Center in Washington, D.C. in December, 2008. IONA Adult Day Health, Wellness & Arts Center is a medical model day program whose mission is to provide person-centered care to individuals with Alzheimer's disease or related illnesses, including other chronic illnesses or disabilities (participants must be aged 60 years or older).
The Obama-Biden administration wants your ideas on how to improve home and community-based services delivery and quality. AAHSA has developed talking points on issues that impact all home and community-based service providers including Adult Day Services, Home Health, Hospice, Home Care, Meal Programs, Transportation Services, and PACE for you to use.
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) members voted overwhelmingly to ratify four-year agreements covering nearly 5,000 workers at Help At Home and 2,000 workers at Community Care Services Inc. The contracts extend between July 1, 2008, and June 30, 2012.
In December 2008, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) members employed as health care workers in California voted to support the creation of a single local for more than 200,000 long-term care workers throughout the state.
The South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) saw a $61 million cut, for a total loss of $137 million, or 15 percent of its budget, this year. Combined with the loss of federal matching funds, that means the total impact is $459 million. Programs such as home health visits and home-delivered meals will be scaled back.
A state trial court properly found that the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene erred when it unilaterally amended the license of a provider of home-based hospice care so that it could no longer provide hospice services in two counties in which it had previously operated.
Cost-effective, quality adult day services could help older adults that need long-term care services, but 84 percent of this group is not eligible for Medicaid, and other sources of payment are limited. So how can they afford to pay for adult day services? AAHSA’s Long-Term Care Solution project, if adopted, would enable older adults who want to remain in their own homes to receive needed services at one of the 4,000 adult day service programs in the United States.
The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals is seeking approval from the legislature to submit a proposal for a section 1115 Medicaid waiver to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The state claims that the proposal would establish a medical home system for Medicaid beneficiaries, including older adults. However, there are serious questions about whether the design of the Department's plan is appropriate or even possible, because Louisiana lacks the type of managed care organizations on which the plan primarily depends.
The New York Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (NYAHSA) and the New York State Home Care Association released a joint report, entitled “Unstable Ground: The Fiscal Instability of Home Care in New York State” that shows that most of the New York State home care agencies are reporting losses, and additional Medicaid cuts will have a negative impact on staff recruitment and retention, as well as the investment in the use of technology to improve patient care.
The move to a new reimbursement system for New York State Adult Day Health Care (ADHC) programs will result in cuts to Medicaid rates paid to these programs by an average of 20 percent. More than seven percent of programs predict they'll be forced to close within six months. Thirty-seven percent of the programs responding have cut staff; 33 percent expect to reduce staff over the next six months.
Twenty individuals receiving 24 hour home health services who filed a suit against proposed TennCare cuts have been allowed to remain in their own homes and will continue to receive their services at home for the time being.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a final rule that would allow states to contract with brokers in providing non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) for Medicaid beneficiaries. The final rule also would allow states to establish NEMT brokerage programs “without regard to statutory requirements for comparability, state-wideness, and freedom of choice.” In addition, states would receive federal matching payments for the NEMT services.
The New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) received approval from the Centers on Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to create the Global Options (GO) for Long Term Care. This new waiver is a combination of three home and community-based waivers. DHSS believes that the consolidation
offers participants with more flexibility and more options (including
the ability to hire their own service providers).
On Jan. 9, 2009, Mirabella Seattle, a new Continuing Care Retirement
Community (CCRC), opened ahead of schedule in the South Lake Union
neighborhood of Seattle. Mirabella is a 12-story residential
community for seniors age 62 and better who want to live in spacious,
well-appointed independent living apartments and penthouses with views
of Seattle.
The advance copy of the Hospice Interpretive Guidance, effective immediately, represents the most recent guidance related to the 42 CFR Part 418 Conditions of Participation for Hospice. It will ultimately be published in the updated Appendix M of the State Operations Manual (SOM).
A video that demonstrates the benefits of mixing generations in adult day services was produced and released by Heritage Day Health Centers, an organization that recently merged with National Church Residences in Central Ohio. Intergenerational programs can reduce anxiety and depression for adult day participants. This type of video is also a fantastic marketing and fundraising tool for adult day providers.
“Attachment D” to Chapter 8 of the “Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS) Implementation Manual” has been reissued to promote accurate selection and assignment of the patient’s diagnosis on the current OASIS (OASIS B1 [1/2008). This document clarifies the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) expectations specific to the assignment of diagnosis codes to the OASIS as dictated by the revised ICD-9-CM coding guidelines effective October 2008, and the Home Health PPS refinements effective January, 2008.