Economic Study Finds DME Competitive Bidding Program Will Reduce Competition, USA

A new economic study finds that the competitive bidding program for durable medical equipment (DME) being rolled out by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) would lead to reduced competition, lower quality of care, and higher costs.

Two Robert Morris University professors, Brian O'Roark, PhD and Stephen Foreman, PhD, conducted the study, which was released this week by the Pennsylvania Association of Medical Suppliers (PAMS).

"The limits on competition that CMS is proposing to implement will have great potential to produce higher prices and lower service quality," Foreman stated. "The franchise bidding process that CMS is implementing is at odds with everything that we know about markets, efficiency and incentives. We should be encouraging added competition in the market, not limiting it. Limits on competition like those proposed by CMS rarely, if ever, make consumers better off."

Innovative Program “OPENS” Doors for MI Health Care Workers, Employers

Michigan’s innovative Kent County Health Field Collaborative (HFC), through its pilot Opportunity Partnership & Empowerment Network (OPEN) program, offers exciting potential to address the “care gap” - Michigan’s rapidly growing number of elders and people with disabilities and ever-shrinking pool of caregivers. The HFC consists of a group of employers working together - along with partners from government, educational institutions, and other not-for-profits - to solve recruitment and retention challenges in health care. Together they identified the challenges employers face now and in the future with growing the workforce.According to a new case study by PHI, a nonprofit organization that supports quality long-term care by improving the quality of direct-care jobs, the OPEN program has achieved impressive results with employee retention. The OPEN program, which the HFC based on a retention model developed by The Source (a coalition of Grand Rapids area manufacturers dedicated to collaborative approaches to employee retention and advancement), saw among its key results significant drops in the overall turnover rates of direct-care workers - those who provide services and supports to elders and people living with disabilities.

Republicans scoff as Carlyle Group aims to take over nursing homes

Last year, officials in the state of Ohio expressed concerns about the purchase of the "troubled family" known as HRC Manor by The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm that includes as its directors some of the most prominent names in American politics.

Toledo-based HCR Manor Care operates 44 nursing homes caring for 5,100 people in Ohio and has been under close watch by state authorities. Officials fear that recent problems could continue under the ownership of Carlyle, which owns Dunkin' Donuts and Hertz, but it's only health care related venture is Lifecare, a nationwide chain of 21 long-term care hospitals.

"These aren't the kind of nursing homes that they can just take over and keep status quo," said Beverly Laubert, long-term care ombudsman for the Ohio Department of Aging. "When you have facilities with such quality problems, someone is going to have to fix them."

State investigators have found instances in which residents at HRC Manor Care facilities did not receive proper care, including instances in which residents didn't receive physician-ordered lab tests or the proper treatment for incontinence, hampering their ability to progress toward using the bathroom on their own.

Michigan's own ombudsman for long-term care expressed the same kinds of reservations this week, but the response she got from one side of the aisle was scoffing. Via Gongwer:

Important news for seniors: tax return and rebate

From National Council on Aging;

Call Hilary Dalin at (202) 479-6626 or email at hilary.dalin@ncoa.og for more information

Fact Sheet:

Your Clients Who Are Low-Income Social Security Recipients Must File 2007 Tax Return to Receive Economic Stimulus Check

What is the stimulus package?

  • To help spur a slowing economy, the IRS will send tax rebate checks to over 130 million households beginning in May 2007 and continuing through the summer. Up to 20 million Americans who rely primarily on Social Security income qualify for a rebate check.

How do people qualify for a stimulus tax rebate check?

  • Generally a person has to have more than $3,000 in income. Even if a person does not have any earned income they can still qualify for a stimulus tax rebate check if their Social Security benefits, Veteran’s Affairs (VA) benefits, and/or railroad retirement benefits equal at least $3,000 annually.

To qualify, they must file a 2007 tax return on IRS Forms 1040 or 1040A with the IRS (even if their income is normally low enough that they are not required to file).

If they file a tax return, how much are they eligible for?

  • In most cases, they will get payments ranging from $300 to $600. Payments increase by $300 for families with dependent children under the age of 17, up to a maximum stimulus payment of $1,200.

By what date does the 2007 tax return have to be filed and when will the checks be received?

  • The IRS encourages filing a return if possible, by the regular April 15 deadline to get the rebate check in May 2008. Those filing later than April 15, with or without a tax-filing extension, may delay receipt of the rebate check. Those who qualify for a stimulus check will receive one by the end of 2008 if they file by October 15, 2008. No rebate checks will be issued after 2008 ends.

Will the stimulus payment affect eligibility for needs-based benefits programs?

  • Receiving a payment under the stimulus package does not effect eligibility for or amount of needs-based benefits programs (i.e. Food Stamps). Specifically, the payment does not count as income in the month it is received and does not count as a resource (asset) for 60 days after the month in which it was received.

Does your organization have questions about the stimulus package? (Please note: this is not intended for inquiries from consumers; We have provided contact info for consumer referrals below.)

Do you know a low-to-moderate income senior who needs help filing a tax return?

The Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) Program provides free tax help to people age 60 and older. To find an AARP Tax Aide site call 1-888-227-7669 or visit the AARP Web site.

The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program provides help to low- and moderate-income taxpayers. Call 1-800-906-9887 for assistance.

Holly Robinson

Associate Staff Director

ABA Commission on Law and Aging

740 15th Street NW

Washington, DC 20005

Phone: (202) 662-8694

Email:robinsoh@staff.abanet.org

Website: www.abanet.org/aging

CMS Proposes New Rules For Redesigning Medicaid, States Have Greater Flexibility In Benefits, Cost Sharing

Two new proposed rules that would give states unprecedented flexibility in designing their own Medicaid programs, including adjusting their benefit package to more closely align with beneficiary needs and requiring increased cost sharing by enrollees, were announced by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

The proposed rules would implement provisions of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 and the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006. The rules are the latest in a series of regulations to implement the Administration's goals of aligning Medicaid more closely with private market insurance and giving states more control over their Medicaid benefits packages.

COMMISSION LOOKS TOWARD TECHNOLOGY TO IMPROVE LONG-TERM CARE

A report issued by the National Commission for Quality Long-Term Care warns of a coming long-term care crisis and includes recommendations to advance long-term care reform in four areas: quality, workforce, technology and finance.

As we continue to look at this report, entitled “Isolation to Integration: Recommendations to Improve Quality in Long-Term Care,” today’s article details suggestions regarding technology.

Merging Discovery With Therapy: Second Generation Memory Care Debuts

Researchers and clinicians from the Indiana University School of Medicine and the Regenstrief Institute are blurring the distinction between lab and clinic as they debut the second generation of memory care.

Building upon a care model they developed and extensively tested over the past 7 years, the focus of second generation memory care is on two groups -- patients with cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and their caregivers. Results of the clinical trial of the IU-Regenstrief care model were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2006.

The initial second generation memory center -- the Healthy Aging Brain Center opens at the IU Center for Senior Health at Wishard Health Services this month.

"When we make the lab from which we develop treatments and the clinic into one entity, we are constantly learning from our patients - what works for them and what does not. Our approach to memory care is on the fast track because by eliminating the distinction between the lab and the clinic, we compress the long timeline traditionally needed to go from discovery to treatment. For us and for those we treat, who are both those with memory problems and their caregivers, this means that they will be receiving the support and care they need now," said Malaz Boustani, M.D., M.P.H., an assistant professor of medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine, an Indiana University Center for Aging Research investigator and a Regenstrief Institute research scientist.