Reports

This summary of research findings gathers research findings from a variety of National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research projects related to the impact of COVID-19 on people with disabilities. The document highlights collects projects focusing on specific research areas including community engagement, rural populations, telehealth, students, and return-to-work accommodations.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted long-standing issues of understaffing and insufficient care delivery in nursing homes. On February 28, 2022, the Biden Administration announced it would be implementing a minimum staffing standard for nursing homes and increasing scrutiny on corporate owned nursing homes. This report analyzes federal data regarding nursing home staffing levels and how it effects residents' outcomes.

The majority of individuals who need long-term services and supports (LTSS) in the United States rely on unpaid assistance from family and friends. The economic value of the unpaid care they provide is estimated to be over $470 billion annually. Unmet needs and waiting lists for Medicaid Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) place significant strain on individuals with disabilities and their families. This report explores how increasing access to HCBS services can reduce out-of-pocket costs for families and strengthen employment and financial wellbeing of family caregivers.

The impact of COVID-19 on nursing facility residents and staff has brought increased attention to existing workforce issues that affect care quality and safety, including staffing shortages and high turnover rates. This analysis presents the most recent national and state-level data on nursing facility-reported staff shortages and describes the Biden Administration’s new policy initiatives to address issues in nursing facilities. National staff shortage trend data spans from May 2020, the first month when nursing facilities were required to report COVID-19 facility data to the CDC, through March 20, 2022, the most recent week of data available.

This report summarizes findings from research involving stakeholder organizations working with family caregivers in the private and public sectors. The report includes insights into best practice models and action steps that can be included in the national strategy to meet the RAISE goals. Additional stakeholder groups such as the direct care workforce, county health care providers, employers, aging and disability organizations, faith-based groups, respite care providers, and others participated in a series of individual interviews and group listening sessions.

The Annual Disability Statistics Compendium provides summaries of statistics about people with disabilities and government programs that serve them. The Compendium presents key overall statistics on topics including the prevalence of disability, employment among persons with disabilities, rates of participation in disability income and social insurance programs, and more. The 2021 Annual Disability Statistics Compendium includes a new section on Voting and Registration, which explores voting and registration of people with and without disabilities in the 2020 presidential elections.

The Office of Disability Employment Policy released the report, “Employment of Persons with a Disability: Analysis of Trends during the COVID-19 Pandemic– Findings in Brief.” This report examines workforce changes during COVID-19. It draws on data from the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey to provide insight into key labor force statistics, employment across industries and occupations, and the effect of the easing of social distancing and the ability to telework on occupational employment change.

This Trends Report highlights the findings of two national surveys conducted by NADTC. Data show that most respondents rely on friends and family rather than public transportation due to a lack of information about available community services. The report also shares tips, strategies and local examples onhow transit agencies can better communicate with riders.

This report, written by RTI International and the Center for Health Care Strategies, combines information gathered from an environmental scan and case studies to provide an overview of the current landscape of Medicare Advantage Organizations (MAOs) that provide expanded supplemental benefits. It includes their initial experiences and challenges with developing and administering the benefits to their members.

Scripps Gerontology Center and the Aging and Disability Business Institute have released a report detailing findings from the 2021 CBO-Health Care Contracting Request for Information (RFI) Survey. The report identifies key findings, contracting patterns and trends from the analysis of all four RFI surveys. The data provides insight on the proportion of CBOs contracting with health care entities and the status of the CBO-health care contracting market.