WHAT'S NEW?
- AoA's Nursing Home Diversion Program
- The Administration on Aging’s Nursing Home Diversion Modernization Grant Program hopes to transform the long-term care system by giving grants to states “to assist individuals at risk of nursing home placement...to receive home and community-based services.”
- Court Upholds Rehab Act Claim for Blind Participants In SSA Programs
- The decision is an important victory for the estimated 3,000,000 participants in Social Security programs who are blind or have low vision, the overwhelming majority of whom are over the age of 80.
- SSA Seeks Comments on Protecting Benefits from Payday Lenders
- The Social Security Administration (SSA) has published a notice of request for comments regarding an anticipated change in a problematic agency payment procedure.
- NSCLC Urges Senators to Enact Fair Pay Bill
- The National Senior Citizens Law Center submitted this letter to urge swift Senate action on S. 1843, the Fair Pay Restoration Act. The bill would will correct a May 2007 Supreme Court decision that severely undermined longstanding guarantees of pay equity prescribed by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Age Discrimination in Act (ADEA) of 1967.
- Justice Scalia's Two-Front War
- Despite lip service to "judicial restraint" Scalia has been waging a war against consumer product regulation as well as protections for workers, at both the state and federal level. Read the full article by Simon Lazarus and Harper Jean Tobin at AmericanProspect.org.
- Senate Bill Would Bar Pre-Dispute Arbitration Agreements
- A bill introduced in the U.S. Senate April 9 amends the Federal Arbitration Act to bar pre-dispute arbitration agreements for long-term care facilities and their residents (or anyone acting on behalf of a resident).
- Nursing Home Admission Agreements: Think Twice Before Signing
- This new guide from NSCLC discusses common admission agreement problems, based on a recent study of 175 nursing home admission agreements. The guide is meant to inform and empower nursing home residents, their families, and others with an interest in improving nursing home care.
- Urban Outfitters in Nursing Homes
- Gene Coffey writes about the need for culture change in nursing homes in this latest post on the Talking Justice blog.
- NSCLC in Roll Call on courts vs. Congress and consumers
- NSCLC Staff Attorney Harper Jean Tobin writes in Roll Call on how a recent federal appeals court decision exemplifies a trend of rolling back consumer protections and remedies and twisting congressional intent.
- California Court Upholds Readmission of Nursing Facility Resident
- A Los Angeles trial court upheld a nursing facility resident’s right to readmission from a hospital. Vernon Convalescent Hosp. v. Cal. Dep’t of Health Services (Edward Bush, Real Party in Interest), Superior Ct. for County of Los Angeles, Case # BS 109596, Minute Order of March 21, 2008
- Low Income Advocate Alert on Medicare Part D (March 2008)
- In this issue of the Alert, NSCLC provides important recent information, both national and California-specific, about Medicare Part D program for advocates of low-income beneficiaries.
- States File Suit Challenging Medicaid Case Management Rules
- The states of Maine, Maryland, New Jersey and Oklahoma have filed a federal lawsuit challenging the new Medicaid case management rule that went into effect on March 3, 2008. Maine Department of Health and Human Services v. United States Department of Health and Human Services, Case No. 1:08-cv-00363-HHK (D.D.C. February 29, 2008).
- Md. Medicaid Agency Must Allow Deduction for ‘Old’ Medical Expenses
- A Maryland trial court has ruled that federal law requires states to permit institutionalized Medicaid enrollees to use their income to pay for medical expenses incurred prior to eligibility. Smith v. McCann, No. 24-C-05-007421 (Md.Cir.Ct. Jan. 18, 2008).
- Money Follows the Person 101
- Read an overview of the Money Follows the Person program, including descriptions of the driving forces behind it, the history of federal support for programs similar to it, and the primary challenges states are likely to face in implementation.
- Commissioner Suspends Part of SSA's Proposed Appeals Changes
- The Social Security Commissioner has announced that he is suspending the rulemaking process with respect to the centerpiece of a proposed rule that sought to make changes to the Social Security appeals process.
- Repealing the 20th Century
- While everyone focuses on its abortion decisions, the Roberts Court is merrily revoking a century of legislation protecting citizens, consumers, workers and minorities against business. By Simon Lazarus, from The American Prospect, December 2007.
- NSCLC Report: Mo. Nursing Home Admissions Agreements
- A recent NSCLC study of nursing home admissions agreements in Missouri found misleading statements and attempts to reduce nursing home responsibility to care for residents.