Network

On January 30, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that sickle cell disease will be the first focus of the Cell and Gene Therapy (CGT) Access Model. The CGT Access Model is targeted to people with Medicaid living with rare and severe diseases by increasing their access to potentially life-changing treatments. Sickle cell disease is an extremely painful condition that disproportionately impacts Black Americans and has had limited treatment options.

Join the National Center on Law & Elder Rights (NCLER) for an upcoming webinar providing an introduction and overview of HUD Housing Programs. In this event, participants will hear from housing experts about HUD Housing Programs that are targeted to low and moderate-income households, including older adults. Attendees will also explore both the eligibility requirements for HUD housing and the challenges involved in securing this affordable option. 

In this training, NCLER will cover:

Join Justice in Aging for an upcoming webinar titled “Dual Eligible Special Needs Plans (D-SNPs): What Advocates Need to Know.”  Justice in Aging will provide an overview of their updated issue brief covering basic information about D-SNPs, their structure, and how they are regulated. They will also identify specific areas where advocates can engage with their states to ensure that D-SNPs work effectively to coordinate care and benefits for dual eligibles, including strategies for centering equity from the outset in the design of D-SNPs.

WellSky is hosting an upcoming webinar to discuss the shortage of skilled workers who provide compassionate care for older adults and people living with disabilities. This webinar will provide participants with an actionable approach to hiring and developing talented people who can serve aging and disability clients. It will also explore affordable solutions to support employees through well-defined career paths and rewarding work conditions.

Participants will learn how to:

The National Center on Law & Elder Rights (NCLER) is hosting an upcoming webinar to discuss the process of states redetermining individuals’ eligibility for Medicaid, also known as the “Medicaid unwinding.” This webinar will cover information about the Medicaid unwinding process, including updates on the unwinding, specific challenges individuals dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid may encounter, and common issues impacting dually eligible individuals.

The Center for Medicare Advocacy (CMA) will host an upcoming webinar covering the Medicare hospice benefit, including an overview of the benefit, common beneficiary challenges, and advice on how to choose a hospice. CMA will also discuss policy updates, including recent oversight efforts by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and proposals to modernize the benefit.

Presenters:

• David Lipschutz, Associate Director, Center for Medicare Advocacy 

Next week, Mathematica is supporting the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services (CMCS) by convening the Child and Adult Core Sets Annual Review Workgroup to review and strengthen the 2026 Child and Adult Core Sets. The Child and Adult Core Sets of quality measures for Medicaid and CHIP are key indicators of the access to and quality of health care that Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries receive. In this multi-day meeting, the Workgroup will make recommendations for strengthening the Child and Adult Core Sets.

Presented by the American Society on Aging (ASA), this webinar addresses the often-overlooked issue of elder abuse and neglect. With nearly 1 in 10 Americans over the age of 60 experiencing some form of abuse, the session will define different types of abuse, offer examples within the older adult population, and explore investigative techniques applied to abuse cases.

Participants in this webinar will learn to: 

• Define abuse and neglect.

Explore the integral role of Care Navigators in interdisciplinary dementia care teams through insights shared in an upcoming webinar jointly hosted by the Administration for Community Living (ACL), the National Alzheimer's and Dementia Resource Center (NADRC), and RTI International. Care Navigators are valuable members of interdisciplinary dementia care and support teams that assist people living with dementia and their caregivers in connecting with needed resources and providing important insight and information about their clients to the full dementia team. 

The next Federal Communications Commission (FCC) -  Disability Advisory Committee (DAC) meeting, where DAC members will engage in discussions covering a working group report and recommendation on the transmittal of audio description files to Internet Protocol programming, will be held on Tuesday, January 30. Participants will also receive updates on best practices for quality Telecommunications Relay Services and the use of artificial intelligence to caption live video programming during this meeting.