Mark Your Calendars – AHCA’s 2016 ID/DD Hill Fly-In Date Set!

AHCA’s Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (ID/DD) Residential Services Providers annual Hill Fly-In event will occur on Tuesday, March 1, 2016, at the AHCA offices in DC. This important event is free to attend.  Breakfast and a boxed lunch will be provided to registrants. Congressional speakers are being invited, a legislative update will be provided, and Hill visits will follow in the afternoon.  AHCA will provide one-pagers and talking points for registrants to take to the Hill.

If you would like to attend, please contact AHCA’s Senior Director of Not for Profit & Constituent Services, Dana Halvorson.  If you have any questions whatsoever, please don’t hesitate to let Dana know.  AHCA hopes to see you at this important event!

ID/DD Facility Tour Visits

AHCA’s Senior Director of Not for Profit & Constituent Services, Dana Halvorson, had the opportunity to tour the AHCA member facilities of Cedarcrest Center for Children with Disabilities in Keene, NH, Seven Hills Pediatric Center at Groton, MA, and the Seven Hills Hopedale, MA, location.

Pictured from left to right is the Director of Nursing Services, Laura Madden, RN, BSN, for Cedarcrest Center for Children with Disabitlies, Holly Jarek, VP/NHA of Seven Hills Pediatric Center, and the President/CEO of Cedarcrest Center for Children with Disabilities, Cathy Gray, M.A., NHA. 

The group is standing in front of the recently installed "KaBOOM!" playground for the children of Cedarcrest. 

AHCA Applauds CMS Action on Issuing Medicaid Final Rule

AHCA recently applauded the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for finalizing the rule “Medicaid Program; Methods for Assuring Access to Covered Medicaid Services.” The rule puts additional structures in place that are intended to make Medicaid fee-for-service payment rate development more data-driven and transparent to beneficiaries and providers.

“We applaud CMS for taking action on this long-awaited rule,” said Mark Parkinson, President and CEO of AHCA. “AHCA provided input, and we are pleased to see that CMS had like-minded ideas. This is a framework for more transparency and accountability in the state plan amendment process for both beneficiaries and providers.”

You can click here to read the full news release from AHCA. 
  

AHCA’s State of the States Clearinghouse

AHCA members have access to key Medicaid and Medicare information through the 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 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 this year.  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 114^th Congress, first session, can be found here.  The U.S. Senate schedule for 2015 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 is a national nonprofit organization advocating for high quality care and human rights for people with I/DD. VOR promises to empower you to make and protect quality of live choices for all individuals with developmental disabilities.  Ways to get involved with VOR can be found here.    

We’ve Got You Covered! 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 (ACA) requirements.  For more information, please contact AHCA’s Dave Kyllo at dkyllo@AHCA.org and visit the AHCA/NCAL Insurance Solutions website.

Articles and Resources of Interest

• AHCA/NCAL Elects New Board of Governors, Directors at Annual Convention in San Antonio – ahcancal.org
• Health care costs for dementia found greater than for any other disease – nih.gov
• Government Study Suggests Autism Overdiagnosed – disabilityscoop.com
• An Aging Population, Without the Doctors to Match – nytimes.com
• Are you ready for Autism? Simple steps for preparing for a Monday morning dental appointment with a child with autism – rdhmag.com
• Obesity More Common Among Kids With Autism, Study Finds – disabilityscoop.com

Legislative and Agency Corner

• AHCA/NCAL Welcomes Speaker Ryan – ahcancal.org
• AHCA Voices Concerns with Proposed Rule – ahcancal.org
• Leveling the Playing Field: Improving Technology Access and Design for People with Intellectual Disabilities – acl.gov
• Fully Integrated Duals Advantage (FIDA-IDD) – opwdd.ny.gov
• Businesses Seek Relief From Congress Over ADA Suits – disabilityscoop.com

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. 

Association Launches New Learning Management Website

AHCA/NCAL has recently launched a comprehensive online Learning Management System to support the training needs of its members. The website, known as ahcancalED, contains a wealth of information including educational programs, webinars, instructional videos, training courses, and other tools. It is available free to AHCA/NCAL members.

"We created ahcancalED for our members who do not have the time or budget to develop the newest in-service training," said Dr. David Gifford, AHCA/NCAL Senior Vice President of Quality and Regulatory Affairs. "Our objective also was to provide the best and latest educational tools, especially as CMS increases its regulatory requirements about staff training and competency in a number of areas. ahcancalED is designed to help individuals in our profession do a better job of caring for patients and residents and advance in their careers."

The information on ahcancalED is structured to make the online learning experience engaging, meaningful, and interactive for users. The fresh graphics and clearly defined sections within the site make it easy for users to navigate and find the information they need. The site also allows users to track their own learning progress.

Teams of experts from around the country working with AHCA/NCAL staff helped to create the content. "We will constantly be adding new programs and materials so that we can keep the site fresh and dynamic," said Gifford. "We'll continue to look for new ways the site can grow and serve our members. It's a great value-added benefit and a tangible example of our commitment to enhancing quality."

ahcancalED can be accessed at https://educate.ahcancal.org/. Suggestions for content or other site enhancements can be submitted to the ahcancalED team at educate@ahca.org. AHCA/NCAL welcomes ideas that will help improve quality and strengthen the knowledge, skills and attitudes of staff in the long term and post-acute care community.

Leaders are Lifters

Dr. Bryan K. Williams states that, “The best leaders are lifters. Plain and simple.  They know how to lift the hearts, hopes, esteem and performance of their staff.  If you are my leader, then my life should be better somehow.  There should be something amplified about me in a positive way, as a result of being on your team.  You should challenge me and encourage me.  You should insist that I do my absolute best, always.  Nothing less will suffice.  With you, I know that there are additional levels of excellence for me to achieve.  As a result of being on your team, I will learn that excellence is not a destination, but an ongoing journey.  I will learn to appreciate where I am, but imagine where I can be.” To read the full blog posting, please click 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.

From the Blog of Josh Linkner

Noted on the Josh Linkner blog, “To Josh Linkner, creativity and innovation are the lifeblood of all human progress. As such, he’s spent his career harnessing the power of creative disruption.  His journey has been non-traditional at every step. As the founder and CEO of four tech companies, Josh built his businesses from a blank page into a combined value of over $200 million. As a hyper-growth CEO of over 20 years, he’s used innovative approaches to topple competitors, fight through adversity, and achieve at the highest levels.”  The bio section of Linkner’s blog goes on to include that, “Josh is an internationally-recognized thought leader and top-rated keynote speaker on innovation, creativity, reinvention, and hyper-growth leadership. His keynotes are focused on not only inspiring audiences, but also sharing actionable strategies to drive meaningful outcomes.”  Read some of Linkner’s blogs below.

• If You Want to Become a Leader, Start Acting Like One
• How Small Choices Help You Conquer Big Temptation
• The Past is Dead

National Association of States United for Aging and Disabilities

The National Association of States United for Aging and Disabilities (NASUAD) holds a monthly call or webinar concerning topics of interest to those who work in the field of aging and disability.  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 2016 Events

• AHCA/NCAL Quality Summit – February 9 – 11, 2016
• AHCA’s ID/DD Hill Fly-In Event – March 1, 2016
• AHCA/NCAL Independent Owner Leadership Conference – March 16 – 18, 2016

2015 Health Care Observances

The 2015 AHCA/NCAL Health Care Observances Calendar can be found here.  December marks, among other observances, World AIDS Day on December 1, and National Influenza Vaccination Week December 6-12, 2015.