Reports

A symposium was held in January, 2008 to help the nursing and social work professions collaborate to support family caregivers. This report springs from that event. Participants explored caregiver demographics and challenges. It also identifies competency areas, best practices and support strategies for professional partners, as well as priorities for future research in the area.

The Easter Seals Project ACTION commissioned this report to make the use of mobility devices in transportation safer and easier. A diverse advisory group used several research methods to create best practices in vehicle and equipment design, wheelchair design and usage, transit operations and training, and policy. The appendices provide links to regulatory sources and sample brochures. Riders, manufacturers, transit operators, researchers, and policymakers may all find this useful.

The Medicaid Buy-In (MBI), Social Security Disability Income (SSDI), and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs all provide workers with disabilities options to maintain health coverage if they earn too much for Medicaid or Medicare benefits. The first issue brief explains how these programs compare and interact in terms of eligibility, coverage, populations, and enrollment. The second examines how MBI participants that collect SSDI utilize SSDI work incentives.

Answering the question posed in the title is one key to evaluating Medicaid Buy-In (MBI) programs. This issue brief, the fifth in a series on workers with disabilities, compares demographics, health status, and expenditures between these groups. Significant areas of difference that were identified are race, gender, diagnoses, and expenditures.

Federal data is used to describe the status of Americans with disabilities and their quality of life. The report measures indicators such as employment, education, health status and health care, financial security, leisure and recreation, personal relationships, and crime and safety. The authors also lay out a road map for the federal government to expand the national disability indicator set, as well as for installing the set into a key national indicator system.

The DMIE awards funds to states to develop, implement, and evaluate interventions that are intended to improve health care coverage and employment services for working adults with potentially disabling conditions. It allows states to offer Medicaid-equivalent coverage, employment support, and case management services in order to sustain employment. This issue brief reviews the rationale for the DMIE, the interventions of the four most recent states, evaluation, and information dissemination.

The purpose of this report is to inform the efforts of states that are trying to develop and improve QA/QI systems by describing and analyzing how selected Systems Change Grantees went through this process. The initiatives examined fall into six categories: administrative technology and information technology; standards for services; discovery; remediation; workforce; and public information.

In Los Angeles County, personal care workers (PCW) that meet eligibility requirements can receive healthcare benefits. Since 2003, the Personal Assistance Services Council (PASC) of L.A. County has commissioned annual studies to examine how these benefits have effected retention and quality. Those studies are posted here along with an introductory letter. Visit the PASC website for updates.

Direct care worker (DCW) training and education are challenging issues in all states. Iowa set up a taskforce to review existing requirements, streamline the process of training and education, and to establish a DCW registry by expanding the Iowa Nurse Aide Registry. The taskforce recommends classifying DCWs by function (rather than setting or population served) and developing a governing body, a single approved curriculum, and a certification system for all DCWs.

This report offers recommendations to increase opportunities for people with disabilities to become fully involved in the economic mainstream of society. It presents research findings in key areas such as education and health care. It also describes selected state-level innovations affecting asset development and wealth accumulation. Finally, the report makes policy recommendations for securing meaningful employment, career advancement, and benefits needed for daily living and accommodations.