Center for Personal Assistance Services Bulletin
June 2004--Volume 1, Issue 2
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) CENTER NEWS: PAS Center website
The Center for Personal Assistance Services website now has state-by-state data from the American Community Survey (ACS) from the U.S. Bureau of the Census. For each state, there is the number of people with a disability, by type of disability, by self-cafe difficulty (a measure of personal assistance need), and by demographic variables. In addition, the Center has also posted the number of PAS workers by state as measured in the ACS. The state pages also list each state's Olmstead plan and any finished or ongoing Olmstead-related legal cases.
The website is located at http://www.pascenter.org.
For more information on the state pages, go to: http://www.pascenter.org/state_based_stats/statshome.php
2) New paper published on Nursing Home Transition
The paper "Nursing home transition: Implementing the Program Providing Assistance to Caregivers in Transition (PACT)" is now available. This is a report on the first 24-months experience and accomplishments of an Administration on Aging funded project dealing with the transition of patients from nursing homes. While there is a substantial literature on case management interventions attempting to prevent or delay nursing home placement among those living in the community, and studies of post hospital discharge planning, there is much less experience with case management interventions targeted to those in nursing homes with the
goal of helping these residents return to the community.
For more information, go to: http://pascenter.org/publications/publication_home.php?id=66
3) In-Home Support Services Update
In the May Revision to the Governor's 2004-05 Budget Bill, Governor Schwarzenegger rescinded the elimination of California's In-Home Support Services (IHSS) Residual Program that was proposed earlier this year. In lieu of the proposal to eliminate the IHSS Residual Program, the Administration is pursuing a Federal Independence Plus Waiver to allow the federal government to pay a share-of-cost for the Residual portion of the program. If the waiver is not granted, the next option is to amend the State's Medicaid Plan. Negotiations are underway between the state and the Medicaid program. The May Revision also proposes implementation of an IHSS Quality Assurance Initiative to more closely structure and monitor needs assessments and the authorization of service hours. The purpose of this is to reduce the variability among counties. Language on these regulations have been drafted. A report prepared for the California HealthCare Foundation on the budgetary impact of eliminating the IHSS Residual Program will be released by the Center for Personal Assistance Services by mid summer.
For the preliminary information, go to: http://pascenter.org/news/calongtermcare.php
4) New online report tracks State Systems Change activity
As a consequence of the Supreme Court Olmstead ruling and the move towards the deinstitutionalization of people with disabilities, most states are now involved in reforming their long-term care system. The HCBS project of the PAS Center is working to collate a series of reports describing what changes are occurring in the provision of home and community-based services. A key influence on state activity in this area is the Federal 'New Freedom Initiative' (NFI). A new report, just published on the PAS Center website, describes the NFI and the Federal Systems Change Grant initiative which aims to help states reform their long-term care systems.
The report 'Federal Systems Change Grants to States and Territories: 2001-2004' provides state-by-state information on Federal Systems Change Grants (SCGs) for the period 2001-2004. It provides summary information accessible to the public, consumers, advocates, researchers and professionals. A table shows for each state, the dollar value of SCG awards by year. The accompanying text introduces the SCG initiative and then provides for each of the 11 types of SCG, comparative information concerning 7 issues: (1) financial years awarded, (2) total value of grants awarded by year, (3) duration of grant, (4) conditions of the grant (purpose, eligibility); (5) state recipients by year, (6) additional information, and (7) typical activities undertaken by states using this grant.
You can view the report at http://www.pascenter.org/systemschange/
Coming soon!
Continuing the series describing how states are reforming long-term care, the HCBS project will soon be publishing a paper providing state-by-state information on two other sources of funding; (1) other Federal grants made to States and, (2) Research and Demonstration waivers (including the Independence Plus initiative).
5) Expanding Workplace PAS in Iowa
On May 7, the Employment Policy Group, Center for Disabilities and Development at the University of Iowa convened a Blue Ribbon Panel to assist Iowa in developing long-term solutions for expanded access to workplace Personal Assistance Services as part of Medicaid Infrastructure Grant activity. Dr. Susan Stoddard of InfoUse participated in the Panel, which included representatives from state government, employers, insurers, employment services providers, researchers, PAS users, PAS providers and the disability community leaders. After reviewing existing Medicaid policy, waivers and other resources available in Iowa, the Panel identified a number of barriers to expansion of workplace PAS, and developed a series of recommendations for expanding availability of PAS, encouraging employers to incorporate workplace PAS into the fabric of the work culture, and recruiting more Personal Assistants for the workplace and business world. The Panel's report as well as related Iowa materials will be available from the Employment Policy Group and from the PAS Center website. The Workplace team continues to work with the Policy Group as recommendations are refined and implemented.
6) PAS Center partner JAN to host 2004 Symposium in September
The Job Accommodation Network (JAN), a Center for Personal Assistance Services partner, will host their 2004 Symposium in Orlando Florida on September 20-21. Entitled "Charting the Course: Accommodating and Employing People with Disabilities, the Symposium will feature separate Accommodation, Best Practices, and ADA/Legal tracks.
For more information, go to: http://symposium.jan.wvu.edu/
7) PAS focus groups
Consumer perspectives on paid Personal Assistance Services (PAS) are being collected in focus groups with working-age users who are people of color and/or living in rural areas. Run at Independent Living Centers in Hayward and Oakland, California, Washington, DC, and Farmington, New Mexico, the focus groups have been composed of African Americans, Cantonese speaking Chinese Americans, and members of the Navajo nation. Focus groups will be held with Latino and rural populations in the upcoming weeks. The results of the focus groups will be posted on the Center website soon.
8) PAS Center will have strong presence at American Public Health Association Meetings
Researchers at the Center for Personal Assistance Services will present seven papers at the annual American Public Health Association Meeting in Washington, DC in November. Presentations will be on a variety of topics including personal assistance services in Medicaid 1915(c) waiver services, waiver services for the elderly during fiscal crisis, and personal assistance services in the workplace: voices from the field.
9) Welcome to Valerie Cintron Flores
The Center is also delighted to welcome Valerie Cintron Flores, 3rd year Psychology student at the University of Puerto Rico. She is participating in the annual COR (Career, Opportunity Research and Training Program) summer internship program and will be conducting research on cost neutrality policies for the Medicaid 1915(c) HCBS waiver programs.
10) SELECTED CONFERENCES DURING JULY, AUGUST, and SEPTEMBER 2004
For more detail about these conferences, go to:
http://pascenter.org/conferences/index.php
July
July 06 - July 08, 2004
2004 Annual Research Meeting - The Premier Forum for Health Services Research
Hosted By: AcademyHealth
Location: San Diego, CA
July 17 - July 22, 2004
The 9th International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders
Hosted By: Alzheimer's Association
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
July 18 - July 21, 2004
2004 DMEC Annual Conference
Hosted By: Disability Management Employer Coalition (DMEC)
Location: San Francisco, CA
August
August 01 - August 03, 2004
17h Annual State Health Policy Conference
Hosted By: National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP)
Location: St Louis, MO
August 13, 2004
Fourth Carework Conference: Bridging Carework Research, Advocacy, and Policy
Hosted By: Carework Network
Location: San Francisco, CA
September
September 08 - September 10, 2004
DPI World Summit 2004: Diversity Within
Hosted By: Disabled Peoples' International (DPI)
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba - Canada
September 18 - September 20, 2004
2004 National Conference
Hosted By: Direct Care Alliance
Location: Washington, DC
September 20 - September 21, 2004
Charting the Course: Accommodating and Employing People with Disabilities
Hosted By: Job Accommodation Network (JAN)
Location: Orlando, FL
September 29 - October 01, 2004
2004 Annual Southwest Conference on Disability: Creating Common Ground
Hosted By: VSA Arts of New Mexico
Location: Wyndham Sunport Hotel, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Center for Personal Assistance Services
Department of Social & Behavioral Sciences
University of California San Francisco
3333 California Street, Suite 455
San Francisco, D.C. 94118
Telephone: 866-PAS-9577 (866-727-9577)
or 415-502-7190
TDD/TTY: 415-502-5216
E-mail: PAS@itsa.ucsf.edu
Website: http://www.pascenter.org
 printer-friendly format
|
