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Hot Off the Press!

National and Around the World

Hot Off the Press! National and Around the World will be updated monthly highlighting the latest national and international disability news. Check out what is happening on the disability-front around the nation.

June 2008 - Improved Ticket to Work program, aims to serve more with disabilities

When congress passed The Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999, it was expected that the unemployment rate among people with disabilities would improve and thus eliminate strain on the Social Security System. The idea is to give Social Security beneficiaries with disabilities, a "voucher" that would pay for employment services.

Unfortunately, the results of the program have been less than impressive, with few beneficiaries taking advantage of the incentive, and fewer still actually finding and maintaining employment. In an effort to improve these results, the program has recently been revamped.

The new Ticket to Work program rules will:

Include more beneficiaries under the Program--The population of individuals eligible for a Ticket is expanded to include beneficiaries who are expected to medically improve.
Increase incentive payments for Employment Networks (ENs)--The new rules modify the EN payment systems to create greater financial incentives for service providers to participate, which will improve beneficiary access to services and expand the pool of quality providers available to serve beneficiaries.
Increase the value of the Ticket--The rules for Ticket assignment are changed to enable beneficiaries with disabilities to take advantage of a more effective combination of services from both State Vocational Rehabilitation agencies and ENs.
Synergize efforts--The new rules promote better alignment of the Ticket to Work Program, the Work Incentives Planning and Assistance Program, the Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security Program, and other Social Security work incentive initiatives.

If you would like to learn more about the Ticket to Work, visit the Social Security Administration's The Work Site online at www.socialsecurity.gov/work.

May 2008 - “You and Your Doctor” brochure

As part of a continued focus on knowledge and prevention of secondary conditions associated with spinal cord injury, the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Spinal Cord Injury has produced an educational brochure titled: “You and Your Doctor: A Short Guide to Your Rights and Responsibilities.” To access this publication online, visit: http://ilru.org/html/publications/SCI/library/You_and_Your_Doctor.pdf.

Printed versions of these materials are available. To request a copy - either for your own use, or to duplicate and distribute, please contact Matthew Kehn, (866) 380-4344, or send e-mail to matthew.e.kehn@medstar.net.

This publication was produced through the National Rehabilitation Hospital (NRH) Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Spinal Cord Injury (RRTC on SCI), the Craig Hospital, and the Independent Living Research Utilization (ILRU). The RRTC on SCI is a five-year project federally funded/supported by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), a division of the United States Dept of Education.

April 2008 - Make your recreation or vacation plans for summer!!!

Have you made your recreation or vacation plans for summer? Be sure to make your plans and your reservations soon so you do not miss out on summer fun. Use our NHU section on Recreation as your Internet portal to look up accessible camps, accessible cabins in the state parks, accessible resorts, accessible travel tips and guides, accessible sports and recreation resources.

February 13, 2008 - Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services releases report on 131 worst nursing facilities

This article was originally produced by Steve Gold in cooperation with the American Association of People with Disabilities. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a report on February 13, 2008 identifying the 131 worst nursing facilities in the country. To make this honor role:

(1) these facilities had at least twice as many deficiencies as the average number of average deficiencies than other nursing facilities in the quality of care they provided;

(2) they had more serious problems than other nursing homes ("serious problems"are those, by definition, that actually cause harm or injury to residents), AND

(3) they had a pattern of these "serious problems" that persisted over approximately three years.

One would think that such nursing institutions would have been shut down well before three years! Or at least, CMS would have disallowed federal Medicaid and Medicare funds to continue to flow to them. Can one imagine how afraid older Americans and other residents with disabilities must be in these institutions? They see and know these "serious problems" pervade the nursing facility where they are, and they must live in constant fear that they will be the next "serious problem" even though many want to return to the community with appropriate services.

Can anyone imagine the CMS officials or our esteemed federally elected officials letting their mothers or brothers or children stay in these institutions for any length of time, let alone three years?

One might think that our federal Medicare and Medicaid dollars would have been stopped as soon as a nursing facility caused one "serious" harm or injury to residents. Without any question, when "serious problems" persist for more than one inspection, the dollars should have been stopped. But they continue.

What will it take to stop spending our federal dollars in nursing institutions that cause "serious" harm and injury to older Americans and people with disabilities? Maybe if CMS officials will not impose serious penalties we should ask them to spend some time in these institutions as "residents." Let them have to live in these nursing institutions and be potential victims of "serious problems." Such an experience might even push them to opt for community-based services as an entitlement.

Maybe CMS should tell us how many residents need to be seriously injured or harmed before a nursing facility loses its Medicaid and Medicare funds. Is there a magic number?

Disability and Older American advocates could check out the mortality/morbidity rates in these nursing facilities. Do your newspapers know these esteemed nursing facilities have made the CMS "worse" list? You could even determine what, if anything, your state Health Department (or whatever is the nursing home inspection unit in your State) has done to monitor or impose sanctions on these dangerous institutions.

Of the 131, here are the 52 worst nursing facilities that have not improved but still receive Medicaid and Medicare funds. (Some of the 131 "improved" in one inspection but have not sustained improvement for 12 months.) Let's remember these 52 are only the tip of the worst.

Eastview Health Care Center, Birmingham, AL Medi-Home Inc, Fort Smith, AR
Infinia At Show Low, Show Low, AZ
Evergreen Foothills Health & Rehab, Phoenix, AZ
Ember Health Care - Pomona, Pomona, CA
Pleasant Care Rehab & Nursing Center, Santa Cruz, CA
Eagle Ridge at Grand Valley, Grand Junction, CO
Kindred Healthcare & Rehab, Northgleen, CP
Apollo Health & Rehab, St. Petersburg, FL
Key West Conv Center, Key West, FL
Polk City Nurisng & Rehab, Polk City, IA
Cedar Falls Health care, Cedar Falls, IA
International Village, Chicago, IL
Berkshire Nursing & Rehab Center, Forest Park, IL
Hillcrest Center for Heath & Rehab, Jeffersonville, IN
St. Jospeh Care Center - west, South bend, IN
Valparaiso Care & Rehab center, Valparaiso, IN
Deseret Nursing & Rehab, Colby, KS
Highlands Nursing, Louisville, KY
Cambridge Place, Lexington, KY
Cedar Hill Health Care, Randolph, MA
Harborside Healthare, Wakefield, MA
Fairlane Senior Care, Detroit, MI
Imperial Healthcare, Dearborn Heights, MI
Metron of Big Rapids, Big Rapids, MI
West Village Manor, Columbia, MO
Senior Estates, Kansas City, MO
St. Elizabeth Healthcare, Florissant, MO
Evergreen Missoula, Missoula, MT
Infinia Att Florence Heights, Omaha, NE
Victoria Health Care Center, Matawan, NJ
Fort Bayard Med Center, Fort Bayard, NM
Northwoods Rehab ECC Hilltop, Niskayuna, NY
Geriatric Center of Mansfield, Mansfield, OH
Woodlawn Health Care, Pawhuska, OK
Northwest Nursing Center, Oklahoma City, OK
Hometown Nursing, Tamqua, PA
Ashton Hall, Phila, PA
Brighten at Broomall, Broomall, PA
Unihealth Post Acute (formerly Manolia Manor), Moncks Corner, SC
Bennett Co. Hosp & Nursing, Martin, SC
Overton Park Health care, Memphis, TN
Taylor Care, Taylor, TX
Renaissance at Kessler Park, Dallas, TX
Bennner Healthcare, Houston, TX
San Saba Nursing Home, San Saba, TX
Ruston Health of Woodbridge, Woodbridge, VA
Frontier Rehab & Ext Care, Longview, WA
Franklin Hills Health & Rehab, Spokane, WA
Willows Nursing and Rehab, Sun Prairie, WI
Middleton Village Nursing Rehab, Middleton, WI

February 2008 - Cell phone reads documents for Blind

In February 2008 individuals who are blind will have a new way to read written text: their cell phone. K-NFB Reading Technology, Inc., a company combining the research and development efforts of the National Federation of the Blind and Kurzweil Technologies Inc. has developed a cell phone that will take pictures of and read most printed materials at the push of a button. Using the Nokia N82 cell phone running on the powerful Symbian operating system with its integrated high-resolution camera, the Reader puts the best available character-recognition software together with text-to-speech conversion technology – all in a device that fits in the palm of your hand. The phone and software is expected to cost a little over $2000. To learn more, visit the National Federation of the Blind website at www.nfb.org.

Hot Off the Press! Archives

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