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Interested in how self-directed options in the 1915(c) Medicaid Aged and Disabled Waiver program are succeeding? In June of 2008 PPL, a nationwide company that provides financial management and supports for self-directed programs, conducted a survey of all 241 participants enrolled in Personal Options for the West Virginia Bureau for Medical Services. The attached report, includes results and summary.

Developed by an FMS provider, this handout offers guidance to participants on becoming employers, through fiscal intermediary services, as determined in their Person Centered Plan.

What are some of the highlights and milestones of the CLP programs? Review the presentations given at the The Gerontological Society of America Annual Meeting on November 19-22, 2009. Officials from the Administration on Aging and representatives from Connecticut, Georgia, Massachusetts and New York on presented.

This document from the Central Texas VDHCBS program contains templates for the veteran's action plan and participant-directed purchases. This worksheet helps develop an action and spending plan.

The National Technical Assistance and Research Center to Promote Leadership for Increasing the Employment and Economic Independence of Adults with Disabilities has released Collaborating and Coordinating with Employers, a brief that illustrates key research findings, outlines existing strategies and practices that are advancing the concept of disability and business collaboration, and provides resources that further illuminate effective strategies and examples of these collaborations.

Workforce3 One, an online resource sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration, has a new Disability and Employment Resource Page to provide employment-related resources for the workforce system. This page outlines promising practices and expands the capacity of the One-Stop Career Center system to serve customers disabilities. The resource page includes videos and podcasts, toolkits and training materials, promising practices, and other materials.

On January 1, 2009, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 2008 went into effect, making some major changes to the way the definition of disability has been interpreted in the past. The Job Accommodation Network (JAN) has released this document to outline these changes clearly and thoroughly. This includes the modified definition of disability, the definition of reasonable accommodation, a listing of publications to help employers understand reasonable accommodation and practical tips.

Community Living Program and Aging & Disability Resource Center grantees, and Veteran Directed Home and Community Based Services programs, evaluators, researchers, and other stakeholders are welcome to answer this call for proposals. Attendance is invitation only, but interested subject matter expert are encouraged to submit sessions and/or recommend a consumer to attend. Deadline is Dec. 15, 2009, “Changing Systems, Changing Lives” will be Feb. 22-24, 2010 in Alexandria, VA.

The SAMHSA and NIDRR-funded UIC National Research and Training Center on Psychiatric Disability has recently posted a series of podcasts and slides from their 2009 Summit on Self-Determination: The Fierce Urgency of Now. A range of leading national experts present on such topics as: self-directed care, eliminating disparities, microenterprises, asset building, WRAP, peer specialists, and many more.

This paper presents a broad overview of the direct-care workforce. The authors examine issues such as wages, benefits, training, worker retention rates, staff satisfaction, and the importance of worker-focused "culture change" initiatives in long-term care settings. They conclude that the quality of direct-care jobs must be increased in order to attract a "stable and competent" workforce, and point to research that suggests ways to create more collaborative, effective, and satisfying jobs.