VOR invites you to join us for our 2^nd nationwide Networking Zoom Meeting!

Please RSVP us at [email protected] by February 20, if you would like to attend. We will send the zoom link a few days before the meeting.

Paying certified nursing assistants higher hourly wages should mean less turnover, but it shouldn’t be the only solution skilled nursing operators rely on, researchers say.

Non-wage factors are important in keeping turnover lower, the researchers found.

While new study results show a “significant relationship” between CNA retention and wage growth, they don’t show the same effects with licensed practical nurses and registered nurses. And might not have commensurate influence anyway.

“[A] dollar increase in CNA wages (a 7% increase from current mean wages of $14.09) is associated with only 1.8 percentage points reduction in CNA turnover in our facility fixed effects regressions, suggesting that it is difficult to achieve substantial reduction in turnover by small increases in wages,” authors Hari Sharma, Ph.D. and Lili Xu wrote.

The findings have implications for the policies operators may implement to address high turnover among nursing home nurses. But increasing wages to that select group shouldn’t be the sole strategy, they wrote.

“While offering competitive wages paid to direct care workers is a necessary step to strengthen the workforce in crisis, especially for low wage earners like CNAs, our results, together with previous literature on the relationship between wages and turnover, suggest that increasing wages alone will not be sufficient to reduce turnover among all types of nursing home staff,” they concluded.

“Non-wage factors including improving work environment, a culture that empowers staff, as well as fringe benefits such as health insurance should be considered along with higher wages,” they added.

By Dave Kassel, The COFAR Blog, February 9, 2022

We think it’s time for a meaningful boost in the minimum wage paid to direct-care workers in the Department of Developmental Services (DDS) system, particularly for those caregivers who are employed by corporate providers to DDS.

We’re suggesting a minimum wage rate for direct care workers of $25 per hour. Right now, the average hourly rate for these workers appears to be $16 or possibly even less. The situation is contributing to staffing shortages throughout the system and a resulting decline in the quality of care in group homes.

At least some of the funding needed for a $25 minimum wage could potentially come from the providers themselves.

In 2019, Sate Auditor Suzanne Bump recognized that at least some of the continually increasing state funding to human services providers could be used to boost direct-care wages, but said that was not happening.

In her 2019 audit , Bump found that the average hourly direct-care wage was $11.92 in Fiscal 2010, and that it had risen only to $14.76 as of Fiscal 2017. That was an increase of only 24% over that eight-year period, an amount that only barely exceeded the yearly inflation rate.

According to Bump’s audit, the increased state funding to the providers provided them with a 237% increase in surplus operating revenues (total operating revenues over total operating expenses) during that same eight-year period.

Press release from Wisconsin Politics, February 4, 2022

The Wisconsin Board for People with Developmental Disabilities (BPDD) thanks Governor Evers for signing a bill today that ensures investigation steps are taken by Adult Protective Services into each report of abuse or neglect for a person with a disability.Incidents of abuse, neglect, and exploitation of people with disabilities are often unseen, unreported, and unaddressed. In 2020, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services reported 52% of abuse or neglect cases involved people with intellectual, developmental or physical disabilities.  Nationally, people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are up to 7 times more likely than people without disabilities to be victims of abuse.  

“During the last year, BPDD team learned there was inequity in the statutes that require investigation of claims of abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation for people with disabilities age 18-59 compared to people over 60.” said Sally Flaschberger, Project Manager for BPDD’s Living Well federally-funded effort to improve the health and safety of people with disabilities using long-term care. “This law makes a simple change to the statute to treat both vulnerable populations equitably and in turn provide greater protection for people with disabilities in Wisconsin.”

Families and other caregivers in Wisconsin report difficulty accessing the system when reporting abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation. Sandra Lomeli from Pewaukee, parent to a young woman with a disability who is a victim of abuse, said, “As part of our healing journey, we advocated for this positive change to help survivors with intellectual disabilities. Individuals with disabilities are one of the largest groups of sexual assault victims. However, their claims may be ignored or marginalized. We thank Governor Evers for signing this into law.”

 

In the last seven years, reports of abuse and neglect for people with disabilities in Wisconsin have increased 38% with no increases in funding for County Adult Protective Service (APS) agencies. While significant investments in the current APS system are greatly needed, the signing of this bill is a first step to ensure that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are assured the same response and investigation as older adults. 

By Ellyn Novak Hefner, Oklahoma City Sentinel, February 5, 2022

 

 

“As the Legislature, we have to make critical financial decisions to serve more people,” Kirt said.

“These bills make sure that we have consistent, publicly available information to guide those decisions. This data will help families see when we make progress and when we stall. It will help families hold us accountable.”

 

 

 

 

 

“Every member of the Oklahoma Legislature has a constituent waiting for services, so it is vital that those constituents and we, their representatives, receive consistent, accurate data reflecting the work being done to connect services to Oklahomans,” Munson said.

 

By Jim Saunders, CBS 12 News, February 7, 2022

Florida House members Monday backed a proposal that would revamp the managed-care system that serves about 4 million Medicaid beneficiaries, but key parts of the plan are fueling opposition from dentists and hospitals.

Lawmakers are considering changes as the state Agency for Health Care Administration prepares to move forward with a process to award a new round of contracts worth billions of dollars to HMOs and other managed-care plans.

Perhaps the most-controversial part of the House proposal (HB 7047), which was approved Monday by the House Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee, centers on how dental services would be provided to Medicaid beneficiaries.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Sam Garrison, R-Fleming Island, would bring those dental services under the umbrella of the managed-care plans. That would effectively undo a 2016 decision by the Legislature to create a separate Medicaid managed-care program for dental care — known in Tallahassee as a “carve-out” of the services.

The proposed change has drawn opposition from dentists, with Joe Ann Hart, chief legislative officer for the Florida Dental Association, telling the House panel that it would create administrative barriers that could make dentists less likely to treat Medicaid patients.

“The worst part about this that we don’t want to see is that it will create a disincentive for dentists to participate,” Hart said.

Whenever you happen upon an article that we may have missed that pertains to people with I/DD, severe autism, intermediate care facilities, sheltered workshops, or other stories that may be of interest to our families, please send it to us!

We can't promise to use everything that is submitted (we often pare down our list stories each week from 15-30 stories down to a half dozen or so), but we will try to add them to the newsletter or our Facebook page as we see appropriate.

If you do come across any articles of interest, please send a short email with a link to the story to us at [email protected]

H.R. 4779 & S. 1437 - Recognizing the Role of Direct Support Professionals Act - To require the Office of Management and Budget to revise the Standard Occupational Classification system to establish a separate code for direct support professionals, and for other purposes.

H.R.6075 - The HEADs UP Act - To amend the Public Health Service Act to expand and improve health care services by health centers and the National Health Service Corps for individuals with a developmental disability as a Medically Underserved Population (MUP).

H.R.4761 - A bill to amend the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to ensure workplace choice and opportunity for young adults with disabilities.

H.R.4762 - A Bill to amend the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to clarify the definition of competitive integrated employment.

VOR OPPOSES:

S. 3417 - The Latonya Reeves Freedom Act of 2021 - This bill may be seen as the offspring of the Disability Integration Act from the 116th Congress. It misrepresents Olmstead, and contains provisions that would be harmful to the existence of ICFs, including a section that would promote lawsuits against larger congregate care facilities.

H.R. 603 & S. 53 - The Raise the Wage Act - These bills are aimed at raising the minimum wage, but they also have provisions to phase out and ultimately eliminate vocational centers and 14 (c) wage certificates over the next six years and to immediately stop the issuing of any new certificates. VOR believes the issue of employment options for individuals with intellectual disabilities should not be buried in a bill for raising the federal minimum wage. Both issues deserve clean, stand-alone bills.

H.R.1880 - To amend the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 to make permanent the Money Follows the Person Rebalancing Demonstration.

H.R. 2383 & S. 3238 - The Transformation to Competitive Integrated Employment Act - this bill purports to assist employers providing employment under special certificates issued under section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 in transforming their business and program models to models that support individuals with disabilities through competitive integrated employment, to phase out the use of these special certificates. We feel that, if enacted, tens of thousands of people with I/DD and autism will still be forced out of opportunities they currently, needlessly, and left without viable alternatives to occupy their time or address their needs and their abilities.

H.R.4131 & S.2210 - The Better Care Better Jobs Act - To be clear, we don't oppose this bill. We object to the fact that it excludes the most vulnerable members of the I/DD population.

While the Better Care Better Jobs Act would greatly increase the amount of federal funding for people with I/DD, it only supports those in waiver programs receiving Home and Community Based Services. It unjustly discriminates against those who have chosen Intermediate Care Facilities as the necessary and proper form of residential treatment. By giving a 10% increase n federal matching funds only to HCBS clients, and providing training and increased pay only to direct support professionals working in HCBS facilities, the act deliberately favors one form of treatment over another, one ideology over another, and one set of people with I/DD over another.

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