Policy alerts, briefs, letters & papers

How can employers attract and retain employees with disabilities? Attached are several examples of how the state of Massachusetts has created outreach materials designed to educate employers on many important topics involving hiring and retaining workers with disabilities. Some topics covered: Business Case for including People with Disabilities in the Workplace, Federal Tax Cuts and Becoming an Employer of Choice.

Persons who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid account for a disproportionate share of expenditures under both programs and receive services that are fragmented and inefficient. Learn about how state contracts with Medicare Special Needs Plans can be used to achieve Medicaid policy goals and advance care integration for dually eligible beneficiaries.

How is Indiana reaching out to its consumers, agencies, and leaders about MIG information? Attached are three examples of how the state both provides education and works to improve on MIG programs and initiatives. Find a survey directed towards MIG consumers, a policy and procedure document designed for employers working with individuals with disabilities, and a strategic planning document for MIG subgroup leaders.

How is Idaho working to provide employment and services for those with disabilities? Find two examples of collaborative planning approaches. Attached are the 2010-2011 Strategic Plan created by the Business Leadership Network and a narrative of activities and results regarding recruitment and retention of individuals with disabilities.

Most people who need long-term help would prefer to receive care in the community, rather than having to move to a nursing home. However, Medicaid, is structured to favor institutional care over home and community care. While community-based services can be cost effective in the long run, developing them requires a costly initial investment from states. Review the benefits of health reform that give states incentives to establish programs to expand home- and community-based services in Medicaid.

View the Federal Tax Changes for Fiscal/Employer Agents in 2011, compiled by the National Resource Center for Participant-Directed Services, noting that the Advanced Earned Income Credit must no longer be paid by employers, and Federal tax deposits must be made by electronic funds transfer. Read about these changes and more.

National policymakers and state Medicaid leaders are paying greater attention to better management of long-term supports and services (LTSS). A combination of factors presents state purchasers with significant opportunities to improve care and control costs by better coordinating and managing the full continuum of long-term care services. In this new publication series, states explore and understand emerging options. Review data and options for transforming long-term-care programs.

PSWH is a person-centered planning process that looks comprehensively at a person’s health life-style, focuses on a person’s strengths, interests and natural supports, stresses creating new health life-style habits and disciplines, and provides peer support delivered by peer specialists to promote self-directed whole health. Attached find a presentation given at the 2010 HCBS conference and an information sheet.

With Medicaid slated to become the nation's single largest insurer covering 25 percent of all Americans, getting Medicaid payment right is critical. This policy brief examines the requirements of federal law that govern Medicaid payment practices and reflects on the implications of federal health reform. It is intended to provide federal and state government officials and other Medicaid stakeholders with an accessible legal context for understanding Medicaid payment as we know it.

This guidebook explains what schools need to do when providing transition services to youth with disabilities. It is written to parents with a primary emphasis on the legal rights of students with disabilities during the transition years. Although developed for residents of Pennsylvania, much of the information can be useful for assisting individuals in other states as well.