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All Center Information by Audience Center Publications
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Happy Holidays from the Center for PAS! A pdf version of this newsletter can be found at http://pascenter.org/newsletter/CenterforPASBulletinDec04.pdf
December 2004--Volume 2, Issue 1 IN 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 http://www.pascenter.org/about/ ========== 1) State by State contact information Do you need to find services and supports for a particular state? The 'State Information' section of the Center for Personal Assistance Services website now lists the postal address, phone number (and TTY where available) and website address for the Medicaid Agency, Protection and Advocacy Agency, State Unit on Aging and Mental Health Services in each state. For more information, go to: http://www.pascenter.org/state_based_stats/agencies_home.php?state=us ========== 2) State Medicaid program difficulties Many states are having budget difficulties and a recent report by the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO) found that Medicaid now constitutes 21.4% of state expenditures. Therefore states are proposing, or have already made, changes to their state Medicaid waiver programs. There are two useful websites to keep up with these developments in Medicaid waiver programs. * The National Health Law Project website has a Medicaid section and a 'Waiver Watch' section. The Medicaid section contains general information on Medicaid, links to other sources and alerts about legal developments in the program. The 'Waiver Watch' section has information on state-by-state waiver activity, alerts for new developments, information on federal policy and political activity and links to other sources of information. For more information, go to: http://www.healthlaw.org * The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured has regular updates about Medicaid activity, including where states have made changes to Medicaid long-term care programs. For more information, go to: http://www.kff.org/medicaid/waivers.cfm For more information on the NASBO (Oct 2004) 2003 State Expenditure Report, go to: http://www.nasbo.org ========== 3) State by State Medicaid HCBS and Waiver data Medicaid home and community based service program data, collected and reported by Center researchers, is now available by state and also by entire US. The information provides the latest (2001) participant and expenditure data for Medicaid 1915(c) HCBS waivers and Medicaid home and community based services which include Medicaid home health, Medicaid optional state plan personal care benefit and waivers. For more information on Medicaid waivers, go to: http://www.pascenter.org/state_based_stats/medicaid_waiver.php?state=us For more information on Medicaid HCBS, go to: http://www.pascenter.org/state_based_stats/medicaid_hcbs.php?state=us ========== 4) Searchable database of Workforce Development Projects in Personal Assistance Services The Center for Personal Assistance Services has recently posted a searchable database of workforce development projects on the Center's website. The online report is a compilation of recently and currently funded research and demonstration projects to expand and improve the Personal Assistance Services workforce in the U.S.A. Data are drawn from an ongoing study that surveys Federal, State, and foundation initiatives and funding sources. Projects were selected for inclusion if they had either an explicit focus on PAS workforce issues, or indicated a promising workforce component. For more information, go to http://www.pascenter.org/state_based_stats/workforce_projects_inventory_home.php?state=us ========== 5) Employment resources for people with disabilities listed by state The Center for Personal Assistance Services' website now offers state-by-state
lists of employment resources for people with disabilities and those that hire
them. Included are The Center has coordinated with the Job Accommodation Network (JAN) for the list of VR agencies by state and with the Research and Training Center for Independent Living Management at Western New York Independent Living Project, Inc. to provide the list of CILs. For more information, go to http://www.pascenter.org/state_based_stats/resources_home.php?state=us ========== 6) Center researchers make presentations Charlene Harrington and Susan Stoddard presented at the Center for Workers with Disabilities Conference sponsored by the American Public Human Services Association in Washington, DC. Harrington discussed the Center and personal assistance services, while Stoddard presented findings from discussions of PAS with employers, employees who use PAS, and employment system personnel. For more information, go to http://www.pascenter.org/conferences/paspresenting.php?row=191&startcount=-10 Center researchers gave 11 talks at American Public Health Association (APHA) meetings and 9 talks at the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) meetings in November. For more information on the APHA talks, go to http://www.pascenter.org/conferences/paspresenting.php?row=135&startcount=-10 For more information on the GSA talks, go to http://www.pascenter.org/conferences/paspresenting.php?row=156&startcount=-10 ========== 7) Center staff develop and redesign California Nursing Home website In response to public concerns about nursing home quality of care and costs, the California HealthCare Foundation launched the California Nursing Home Search website in October 2002 to meet the need for free comprehensive information that can be used by consumers, providers and other stakeholders to find objective data about the state's nursing homes. Originally developed by the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF); the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Borun Center for Gerontological Research; RAND; and the University of Wisconsin, Madison, the website was revised in December 2004 by Center for Personal Assistance Services Director Charlene Harrington and Janis O'Meara from UCSF and the California HealthCare Foundation to make the website easier for consumers to use. New information about specific home health agencies and hospice programs were added to the website to inform individuals about their options for care at home and in the community. Information is available on 1,400 nursing homes, 834 home health agencies, and 172 hospice programs in the state and the information is updated on a quarterly basis. For more information, go to http://www.pascenter.org/news/news_home.php?id=26 To go to the California Nursing Home Search website, go to http://www.calnhs.org ========== 8) News from the Family Caregiver Alliance Florida report on the state's older population
Family Caregiver Alliance's National Center on Caregiving releases landmark 50-state study: "The State of the States in Family Caregiver Support: A 50-State Study"
Family Caregiver Alliance's National Center on Caregiving releases consumer direction policy brief: "Consumer-Directed Home Care: Effects on Family Caregivers"
========== 9) New video includes Center researcher A new 20-minute video on healthcare access and quality medical care for people with disabilities has been developed World Institute on Disability and Kaiser Permanente. The video features Alice Wong, a Research Assistant at the Center for Personal Assistance Services and UCSF, and aims to teach medical providers about disability access and communication. ========== 10) New reports released on aging in United States Two new reports were released recently concerning aging in the United States. The first report, entitled The State of Aging and Health in the United States, from the Centers for Disease Control assesses the health status and health behaviors of U.S. adults aged 65 and older, and makes recommendations to improve the mental and physical health of all Americans in their later years. For more information, go to http://www.cdc.gov/aging/publications.htm#sah The second report from the Federal Interagency Forum on Aging-Related Statistics, is entitled Older Americans 2004: Key Indicators of Well-Being . This report covers 37 key indicators selected by the Forum to portray aspects of the lives of older Americans and their families. It is divided into five subject areas: population, economics, health status, health risks and behaviors, and health care. For more information, go to http://www.agingstats.gov/chartbook2004/default.htm ========== 11) SELECTED CONFERENCES DURING January, February, and March 2005 For more detail about these conferences, go to: February February 02 - February 03, 2005 February 11 - January 01, 2001 February 28 - March 01, 2005 March 10 - March 13, 2005 March 14 - March 19, 2005 ====================================================== 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: http://www.ed.gov/nidrr Center for Personal Assistance Services As part of the Center, InfoUse will email this newsletter periodically to listserve
members.
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