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Disability Policy Consortium
Disability Policy Consortium Weekly Update
August 22, 2011
in this issue
:: DAAHR Report
:: DAAHR Footnote
:: Meeting on Integrated Care
:: Taxi Taxi!
:: Dual Eligible Planning
:: Paratransit Meeting
:: Open Door Gallery
:: Waterown Arts
:: Tech Showcase
Dear Bill,
This is one of those times when an early start didn't get me the worm but it did save me from having to write anything but this section without my glasses! They're still on a shelf at Lowe's.
We're featuring information from Disability Advocates Advancing our Healthcare Rights in this issue. The focus is on the proposal to offer (or compel?) people who are eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare a managed care plan.
As I write this the US Weather Service has announced a Tornado Watch for Berkshire County. If you are in that area, please report how emergency annoucements were handled and anything else of interest.
This issue brings news of the death of Fred Fay. Mr. Fay was known to the people who were active in starting the Independent Living movement and ultimately bringing us the ADA. He will be missed and mourned by people all across our land.
Bill Allan
Director, Policy & Advocacy
Boston Globe
Letters to the Editor
August 20, 2011
"SHOOTING renews debate about public housing'' (Metro, Aug. 14):
Why is it that a public housing official can denigrate a substantial population he is charged with assisting and protecting, and can still keep his job? Bill McGonagle, head of the Boston Housing Authority, says it's poor public policy to allow people with disabilities to live among elders in the same development. Is it any more outrageous than allowing elders to cross the street, live in gang-infected neighborhoods, or use a chair to reach a cabinet?
The fact that almost all the people in elderly and disabled housing are, in fact, disabled is obscured when there is an unfortunate incident such as the one that occurred in Brighton. The focus is on the man's mental health disorder, and the implication in McGonagle's comment is that people with a disability, much less a mental health disorder, are a threat to their neighbors.
Focus should be on the availability of firearms in general, and attention should also be paid to elder-upon-elder violence in senior and disabled public housing. Many resident of these developments, because of the lack of other safe public housing opportunities, are blind, deaf, or have physical disabilities. They occasionally are victims as well.
The fact that community mental health funding has been decimated means that community care workers are almost nonexistent. Support services within housing complexes are not capable of dealing with issues more serious than ambulances or bingo.
William F. Allan
Director of policy and advocacy
Disability Policy Consortium
Boston
Integrated Care for Dual Eligibles
DAAHR Report
DAAHR logo
Disability Advocates Advancing our Healthcare Rights logo
The Disability Advocates Advancing our Healthcare Rights has been working very hard meeting with legislators, MassHealth and constituency groups developing strategies for implementing managed care for dual eligibles.
Most of the DAAHR focus has been on amplifying the 8 principles adopted as part of the response to the Request for Information in May. For example, Principle #6 calls for "The consumer voice must be incorporated into the design, implementation and monitoring of the program, and individual consumer rights must be protected". In practical terms this get redefined as people with disabilities being part of the governance system We need representation on committees planning and implementing new services. PWD must be part of the process that reviews quantitative and qualitative data. The most import requirement, however, is that and entity to be considered as an
Integrated Care Entity must have a current ADA transition plan or make a commitment to develop one within 6 months.
Voluntary enrollment is a number one request. We define it as giving people the option to join or not join any particular ICE. An important corollary is ability to opt-out at anytime. Passive enrollment which is what MassHealth imposed last year on CommonHealth members is not seen as an acceptable alternative. Passive enrollment assigns people to a particular plan and gives them a amount of time to chose another plan.
Home and community based services has been a another point for discussion. Most advocates from the elder and disability communities versed in de-institutionalization and Olmstead see the inclusion of community based supports as a vital way of improving quality and reducing costs. While there has been dissent from advocates for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, the expansion of vital community services for people with adult onset, behavioral health and other physical disabilities is a paramount concern for DAAHR.
The agenda is longer than this article and some of the internal discussions are even longer. One of the reasons is that DAAHR members are excited by the opportunities for shaping healthcare for people with disabilities for the next 2 or 3 generations. As Dennis Heaphy often says, "this is our first chance at getting health care right".
DAAHR Footnote
DPC staff engaged two gentlemen last week who live at NE Sinai Rehab in Stoughton. One man has only been there a year; the other for years. Neither has been out of the facility in months.
Both men need a person to accompany them and Sinai staff are not available for excursions to the rest of the world.
The Community First Olmstead Plan is as much about quality of life as it is about anything. The ADA calls for providing equivalent services for people with disabilities: school children get field trips; elders have regular transport services; other people have personal care services.
We overlooked these gentlemen in our past deliberations with EOHHS. We need to guarantee the Senior Care Options transportation for members as part of the benefits for all Dual Eligibles regardless of where they reside.
Bill Allan
August 20, 2011
Calendar
Meeting on Integrated Care
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
10:00 am - 12:00 noon
Worcester Public Library,
Saxe Room, 3 Salem Square
Worcester, MA.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services, Office of Medicaid (MassHealth) will host an open meeting regarding Integrating Medicare and Medicaid for Dual Eligible Individuals on Wednesday, August 31, 2011 from 10:00 am - 12:00 noon at the Worcester Public Library, Saxe Room, 3 Salem Square, Worcester, MA. Directions to the library are available at http://www.worcpublib.org/pdf/applications/main.pdf.
News from the Net
Taxi Taxi!
The Department of Transportation in Massachusetts is holding hearings on Paratransit services, and seeking ways to limit the increasing cost of providing these services. Next year the RIDE program will cost the MBTA more than $100 million dollars.
The DPC believes on of the ways to lower costs would be utilize wheelchair accessible taxi service. As you award despite the requirements of the ADA most cities and towns in Massachusetts do not have accessible taxi cabs. We are conducting a survey of cities and towns to find out more about taxi service in your communities.
Could you take a moment and contact Liz Hardy, DPC staff at either 617 680-2599
lizhardy@dpcma.org and provide her with the following
information
Who oversees taxi service in your town? (police, mayors office, city council, town committee, selectmen, etc)
Contact information for this individual (if you have it)
Do you have any accessible taxis in your city/town?
Do you want accessible taxi service in your town?
Do you want DPC help with this issue?
Dual Eligible Planning
Report on Other States
A new policy brief from the Kaiser Family Foundation summarizes 15 states' preliminary proposals to better coordinate care for people who are in both the Medicare and Medicaid programs.... This brief provides an overview of the significant characteristics of each state's preliminary proposals for integrated care demonstrations, including the type of entity to deliver benefits, target population and enrollment, benefits package, financing, beneficiary protections, stakeholder involvement, and proposed timeframe.
Policy Brief
Calendar
Paratransit Meeting
Commission for the Reform of Community, Social Service and Paratransit Transportation Services in the Commonwealth
August 25, 2011
3:30 P.M. - 5:00 P.M.
Gardner Auditorium
Massachusetts State House
This event is scheduled as a meeting to be observed NOT a hearing to take testimony.
gateway arts
The Open Door Gallery, in association with Third Sector New England, is hosting Collaborations: Gateway Arts, June 29 - August 29, 2011.
The exhibit includes drawings, paintings, and sculptures by 40 established and emerging artists from Gateway Arts of Brookline. Most artworks are available for sale.
Watertown Arts
This is an invitation for artists with disabilities to exhibit their artwork. If you need more information, you can reach me at 617-543-6459. In the event that yoy are unable to submit your information via mail, you can email me the information along with an attached picture of your art and I will make sure it is sent to the Watertown Commission on Disability subcommittee who are putting the exhibit together. PLEASE NOTE: The exhibit only has 12 available openings in October and 12 in November Thank you!
George Donahue, Email
Technology Showcase
Save the Date!
September 23, 2011
Please join us for an Expo and Conference on Friday, September 23rd at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. Experience the current state-of-the-art of inclusive products and technologies that transform the lives of people with disabilities and older people. Help initiate a strategy for integration of inclusive design and assistive technology into the Massachusetts innovation agenda. Be a part of it!
In Memorium: Fred Fay
Frederick A. Fay Ph.D. | Visit Guest Book
FAY, Frederick A., PhD Age 66 of Concord, MA. August 20, 2011. Long-time life partner of Trish Irons. Father of Derick Fay of Riverside, CA. Brother of Jean Fay Depp of NC., Margaret Fay Pippen of MO and Brewster W. Fay of PA. Also survived by many nieces, nephews, cousins friends and colleagues. Services to be announced. Gifts in Fred's name may be made to Boston Center for Independent Living, 60 Temple Place, Boston, MA 02111.
www.bostoncil.org
Video from Wrights Law