A Day for ID/DD Providers at AHCA/NCAL Convention is Sunday, October 4, 2015

A Day for Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Residential Services Providers will be held on Sunday, October 4, 2015, at the 66th AHCA/NCAL Annual Convention & Expo.  The theme for this year's session is called, “Leading the Charge for Compassionate Care: A Day for Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Residential Services Providers.” 

This constituency education program for ID/DD providers is packed with motivational and educational speakers. Charles Bloom, Chief Strategic Officer for the Marquis Companies/Consonus Healthcare in Milwaukie, OR, is the keynote speaker, and will explore and examine with attendees the background of intentional culture and how it can create meaning and purpose in our work. Intentional culture allows us to keep the meaning and purpose in our work, without it, nothing else matters. Participants will also have the opportunity to hear from other educational and top-notch speakers, including CMS.  Learn more about ID/DD Day.  Register today and earn 7.0

AHCA’s ID/DD Committee Member, John Lair, Named 2014 Special Olympics North America Coach of the Year

Special Olympics North America recently announced the selection of John Lair of Pittsburg, Kansas as Special Olympics North America's 2014 Coach of the Year.  According to the April 27, 2015, press release from Special Olympics, “the Coach of the Year Award was established in the late 1980’s and is given annually to an active, certified Special Olympics coach who has met several criteria, particularly their having made a significant and demonstrable impact on local Special Olympics Programs and their communities.  There are over 120,000 coaches within Special Olympics North America, providing instruction and competition in more than 32 sports. The impressive scope and contributions of all those coaches, puts the momentousness of this award into perspective.”  Learn more about John and this prestigious award on the Special Olympics website. 

Recognize Your Champion of Quality Care

AHCA/NCAL is now accepting applications for the 2015 Mary K. Ousley Champion of Quality Award! This award recognizes an individual who has made significant national contributions to advancing quality performance in long term and/or post-acute care, including either skilled nursing or assisted living settings. Previous recipients have demonstrated exemplary achievements in long term and post-acute care, including, but not limited to: 

•  leadership in education and advocacy for quality improvements; 
• dedication to performance improvement;
• significant additions to long term and post-acute care research or interventions, and;
•  initiative in innovation for quality care. 

Recipients of the award are not required to be AHCA/NCAL members, but the nomination must be submitted by an individual with an organization that is an AHCA/NCAL member of good standing. In addition, the nomination must demonstrate how the nominee has made a significant impact on a national scale. The recipient will be honored at the 2015 AHCA/NCAL Annual Convention & Expo’s Closing General Session in San Antonio, Texas, on October 7.

Nomination forms can be found on the Champion of Quality Award page, and must be submitted via email to Courtney Bishnoi by June 11, 2015.  Please contact Courtney Bishnoi for questions, or visit the Champion of Quality award page for more information.

AHCA’s State of the States Clearinghouse

AHCA members now have access to key Medicaid and Medicare information through the new State of the States Clearinghouse.  The AHCA State of the States Clearinghouse is a one stop shop for key Medicaid and Medicare information impacting the long term care profession.   

This new resource provides valuable data, including:

• Overview of the demographic landscape;
• State-specific nursing center occupancy and ownership breakouts; 
• Certificate of Need requirements for nursing centers and state licensure requirements; 
• State data on the cost of care for long term services and supports;  
• State data on the total number of Medicare enrollees; 
• Data on state Medicare Advantage plan enrollees and comparisons to the national average; 
• State and national Medicaid expenditure data;
• State Medicaid rates, costs and shortfalls;
• And other significant state-specific data related to payment structure, managed long term services and home and community based services coverage.

AHCA will continue to provide the most up-to-date information through the Clearinghouse and share new data/resources as they become available.  Also be sure to visit the AHCA Medicaid Page to learn more about the program and to access additional AHCA members-only Medicaid resources.

Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Grassroots Advocacy

Renee Naylor, AHCA's ID/DD Committee Chair, encourages AHCA's ID/DD providers to participate in our grassroots advocacy efforts in 2015.  AHCA would like to help you get facility tours and in-district meetings set up over future recess days.  Please provide your name, facility address, and email address and we will craft the invite and send it to you to send to the Congressional office.  The four brief steps for a successful facility tour visit can be found here.  Please feel free to contact Matthew Smyth and Dana Halvorson who can help you with all of the logistics.

Renee Naylor (pictured to the left) and AHCA’s ID/DD Committee member, Kelly Head (pictured to the right), met with Representative Kurt Schrader (D-OR-5) on March 24, during AHCA’s ID/DD Residential Services Providers annual Hill Fly-In event. 

U.S. Congressional Calendars

As you are planning your visits with members of Congress and their staff in Washington, D.C., or in your district, the Congressional calendars will be of assistance to you.  The U.S. House of Representatives calendar for the 114th Congress, first session, can be found here.  The U.S. Senate schedule for the new Congress can be found here. The dates in black reference the times the U.S. Senate is in session.  The red dates represent when the U.S. Senate is in recess. 

AHCA/NCAL Advocacy App

If you haven’t already heard about it, then we wanted to alert you to a great app that allows you to keep abreast of AHCA advocacy efforts.  Among other things, it provides important talking points, issue briefs and features that allow you to take action.  It will be useful not only to you, but serves as a great way for providers to weigh in.  You can get the app by clicking on the appropriate black box below.

 

Download our advocacy app!

   

VOR Corner

VOR, a national nonprofit organization advocating for high quality care and human rights for people with I/DD, will host its Annual Conference on Sunday, June 7, 2015 at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.  VOR’s Congressional Initiative will immediately follow during the week of June 8, 2015.  Details are posted at http://www.vor.net/events.  If you have any questions relating to these VOR events or sponsorship opportunities, you can contact VOR’s Executive Director, Julie Huso -- jhuso@vor.net. 

We’ve Got You Covered! New AHCA/NCAL Insurance Solutions Website

The American Health Care Association (AHCA) and National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL) now offers a variety of comprehensive insurance programs to meet your business needs. Backed by the strength of our membership, AHCA/NCAL Insurance Solutions programs are designed with exclusive member savings and discounts for both the fully-insured or self-insured members.

The program offers health insurance options, group and voluntary benefit packages, an aggressive Stop-Loss insurance program as well as cloud based HR platforms that will help members achieve savings and greater efficiencies on HR services within your company, while also tracking and reporting on key Affordable Care Act requirements.  For more information, please visit the new AHCA/NCAL Insurance Solutions website.   

Articles and Resources of Interest

• Study: MMR Vaccine Doesn’t Increase Autism Risk – disabilityscoop.com
• Some States Pay Doctors More to Treat Medicaid Patients – disabilityscoop.com

Legislative and Agency Corner

• Obama administration seeks public comment on proposed rules to implement the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act – dol.gov
• Feds Call For Greater Inclusion In Preschools – disabilityscoop.com
• Funding Opportunity Announcement for the Community Interoperability and Health Information Exchange Cooperative Agreement Program – healthit.gov
• Long-Term Services and Supports Policy Brief – whitehouseconferenceonaging.gov
• Top 10 Tips to Know if You Get a Letter from the IRS – irs.gov
• Understanding Memory Loss: What To Do When You Have Trouble Remembering – nia.nih.gov
• Exercise and Physical Activity: Alzheimer's Caregiving Tips – nia.nih.gov

Webinars of Interest

Stay informed and tune in to AHCA/NCAL-hosted pre-recorded and live webinars on a number of topics impacting the long term care profession.  

Is Customer Service Really Just Common Sense?

According to Dr. Bryan K. Williams, “At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter what you know, it’s what you do that counts.  I can have all the common sense in the world, but if I don’t use it, then it’s meaningless.  Both line employees and leaders must understand their roles in turning common sense into common action.”  Dr. Williams goes on to note at the end of the blog that, “In my mind, the only thing ‘common’ about customer service is that everyone appreciates being valued.  Help. Serve. Assist. Escort. Greet. Follow-Up. Exceed. Recognize. Honor.  Hardwire these words into your subconscious so that service excellence is not just common sense, but is commonly done.”  The full blog version of the “Is Customer Service Really Just Common Sense?” article can be found here. 

Dr. Williams is a consultant, trainer, and author, who focuses on the areas of service excellence and organizational effectiveness.  He has spoken at numerous AHCA/NCAL events, and his passion is to serve others so they may better serve the world.  Here is a link where you can see some of Dr. Williams’ book recommendations on service, leadership and personal development.

National Association of States United for Aging and Disabilities

The National Association of Sates United for Aging and Disabilities (NASUAD) holds monthly calls concerning topics of interest to those who work in the field of aging and disability the first Thursday of every month at 3pm EST.  One of the past calls focused on resources for people with Alzheimer’s and related dementias and their caregivers.  Information about future calls, and audio recording of previous ones, can be found here.

Upcoming 2015 Events

• VOR’s Annual Conference – June 7, 2015
• VOR's Congressional Initiative – week of June 8, 2015 
• NASDDDS 2015 Directors Forum & Mid-Year Conference – June 10-12, 2015
• AHCA’s Congressional Briefing – June 15 and 16, 2015
• Global Summit on Innovations and Health in IDD – July 27-29, 2015

2015 Health Care Observances

The 2015 AHCA/NCAL Health Care Observances Calendar can be found here.  June marks, among other observances, Cataract Awareness Month and National Safety Month.