Declaration for Independence

A Call to Transform Health and Long Term Services for Seniors and People with Disabilities



Technology and Medicare: Congress Passes, Obama Signs Steve Gleason Act

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Posted Aug. 4, 2015 | On July 30, the president signed the Steve Gleason Act (S. 984) into law, a bill to amend Title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide Medicare beneficiaries access to eye tracking accessories for speech generating devices and to remove the rental cap for durable medical equipment under the Medicare Program [...]

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Medicaid Expansion after the Midterms

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Medicaid Expansion after the Midterms: State Stances Unlikely to Change, or New Room for Compromise between the Administration, GOP Governors? Posted Dec. 2, 2014 | Following a strong Republican showing at the midterm elections and in many gubernatorial races, commentators and experts alike have suggested the states’ stances on Medicaid expansion are firm and unlikely [...]

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Medicaid Directors Join Peer State Groups in Response to Home Care Final Rule Delay

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Posted Oct. 21, 2014 | On October 7, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced that it would be delaying federal enforcement of the changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) pertaining to wages for certain home care workers. The announcement states that DOL will not bring any enforcement action against employers, including states, [...]

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CMS Releases HCBS Statewide Transition Plan Toolkit

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Posted Sep. 5, 2014 | The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a new resource today as part of the agency’s larger Home and Community-Based (HCB) Settings Requirements Compliance Toolkit. The Statewide Transition Plan Toolkit provides information on the content and process of the transition plan required from each states under the new federal [...]

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Aligning Goals with Managed Care Contracts: Person-centered Planning in MLTSS

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Posted Sep. 3, 2014 | In a new policy issue brief, the National Senior Citizens Law Center (NSCLC) examines person-centered service planning in the context of both managed care and the recent HCBS Final Rule, analyzing what states are doing – through their Medicaid Long-Term Services and Supports programs – to ensure person-centered planning. The [...]

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Four Tips for Consumer Advocates Evaluating Medicaid HCBS Transition Plans

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Posted July 21, 2014 | States now are beginning to release their transition plans to bring their Medicaid home and community-based services (HCBS) systems into compliance with the new federal regulations on community-based settings.  It is essential that consumers and their representatives be prepared to evaluate those plans and advocate for improvements. Here are four [...]

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What We’re Reading: Dec. 21, 2015

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Kaiser Health News: Baby Boomers Set Another Trend - More Golden Years in Poorer Health After the last of the baby boomers become fully eligible for Medicare, the federal health program can expect significantly higher costs in 2030 both because of the high number of beneficiaries and because many are expected to be significantly less [...]

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What We’re Reading: Nov. 16, 2015

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Administration for Community Living: Remembering Jamie Kendall ACL is mourning the loss of Jamie Kendall, Acting Director of the Independent Living Administration, who died November 12. Jamie was an inspirational leader, brilliant colleague and dear friend, but these words do not begin to really capture who she was, or how many people she touched. In [...]

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What We’re Reading: Sep. 21, 2015

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The Atlanta Journal-Constitution The Invisible Epidemic It’s an invisible epidemic, as devastating as diabetes but out of the public eye. Look around you, at your family, your neighbors, your coworkers. Chances are excellent that you’ll see someone suffering from mental illness. Nearly one in five adults in Georgia battles mental illness in any given year. [...]

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What We’re Reading: Sep. 14, 2015

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Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services: Addressing Disparities in Medicare - A Six-point Plan CMS released a six-point plan (“The CMS Equity Plan for Improving Quality in Medicare”) for addressing health equity in Medicare at a conference that noted both the 50th anniversary of Medicare and the 30th anniversary of the Heckler Report on minority health. [...]

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