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Direct care workers and long-term care employers are facing greater challenges than ever before in securing affordable health coverage. This "Better Jobs, Better Care" issue brief presents the case for improving health coverage to direct care workers and offers realistic strategies for making health coverage more available and more affordable to them and their families.

This Community Living Brief addresses the issue of consumer/survivor–operated programs and how they have had a significant impact on the delivery of mental health services in this country. The central values of consumer-operated services (empowerment, choice, and to a growing extent, self-determination) now are recognized within the traditional mental health system. At a systems level, consumers/survivors have a formal and recognized voice in planning, implementation, and research.

This link to the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP)website contains the presentations from the 2004 CMS Conference held March 2-3, 2004.

This document describes the Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) Recruitment and Retention Project implemented by the Iowa Care Givers Association. This program aims to decrease turnover among CNAs who provide direct support in three Northwest Iowa nursing facilities. ICA is a member-driven association that provides education, information, support, and advocacy for CNAs, Home Health Aides, and other specialized direct support professionals.

A new website, the ADA Collection, offers visitors over 3,000 documents pertaining to the Americans with Disabilites Act. This new one-stop, one-shop ADA source is online at http://www.adaportal.org. The website offers in-depth information about a variety of topics, but also includes general and easy-to-understand information about the ADA. Document categories include employment, state & local government, private business, facility access, transporation, communication, and enforcement.

This website provides accessible and comprehensive tools and information to grantees who provide services that help individuals with disabilities find and keep good jobs. The resources help grantees widen the array and integration of services available at One-stop centers. This site is targeted toward state and local One-Stop service providers, but individuals with disabilities, advocates, parents, counselors and other professionals will find a rich source of information here.

The State of Michigan combined several funding sources in its contracts with local community mental health agencies, which serve people with developmental disabilities, mental illness, and addiction disorders. To ensure access and improve choice, the contracts require local agencies offer a wide array of services and use a person-centered planning process to determine a person’s service plan. In the first two years of using this model, access to services improved and costs were reduced.

This is a link to the CMS website, specifically to the information on dual eligibles - Dual eligibles are individuals who are entitled to Medicare Part A and/or Part B and are eligible for some form of Medicaid benefit. Find out more about the Medicare - Medicaid Relationship.

In a letter to State Medicaid Directors, CMS announced a funding opportunity under the Demonstration to Maintain Independence and Employment. This third-round solicitaion relects substantially more flexibility than what appeared in earlier rounds. This demonstration grant allows states to provide benefits, equivalent to those provided by Medicaid to the categorically needy, to workers who have physical or mental impairments that, without medical assistance, will likely result in disability.

This webcast focused on forms of abuse/violence/sexual assault against women and men with disabilities, barriers that get in the way of reporting abuse, and strategies that women and men with disabilities believe are important for enhancing their safety. Survey information, gathered directly from individuals with physical and cognitive disabilities as well as victims of domestic violence, disability organizations and criminal justice agencies, was shared with participants.