Policy Tools & Information
Protecting Medicaid, Americans' Only Long-Term Care Safety Net
Medicare's Role in Long-Term Care
Reauthorization of the Older Americans Act
Strengthening the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Provisions of the Older Americans Act
The Dangers of Tort Reform for Long-Term Care Consumers
Pre-Dispute Arbitration Agreements in Long-Term Care Facility Admission Contracts
Improving Nurse Staffing and the Direct Care Workforce
Better Care Through Better Wages
Medicaid Managed Long-Term Care
Residents' Rights in the Nursing Home Reform Law
Long-Term Care Provisions in the Affordable Care Act
Other Public Policy & Advocacy Resources
Consumer Voice Positions Resolutions & Publications
Advocacy Toolkit
Federal Legislation
Government Reports
State Resources Publications & Legislation
Outside Publications & Resources
Policy Advocacy News
Using Public Data
Consumer Voice Positions, Resolutions & Publications
- Consumer Voice Nurse Staffing Standards
- Consumer Voice Resolutions 1986 - 2010 (by topic)
- The High Cost of Poor Care: : The Financial Case for Prevention in American Nursing Homes (April 2011)
- History of Consumer Voice Resolutions
- The Faces of Neglect: Behind the Closed Doors of Nursing Homes
- Nursing Homes: Getting Good Care There
- Piecing Together Quality Long-Term Care: A Consumer’s Guide to Choices and Advocacy: This consumer guide, developed in March 2011, educates people with disabilities and older adults about their options for long-term services and supports and empowers consumers to be self-advocates for quality long-term care. The guide includes tips from consumers as well as information and resources to assist people currently living in nursing homes to move back into the community. The guide is available in several formats, including an HTML version, a PDF version and audio portions of the guide; a hardcopy is also available for $20.
- Jessica Brill Ortiz, program manager, and Becka Livesay, program associate – communications and outreach, presented an overview of the Consumers for Quality Care, No Matter Where initiative at the 2011 Aging in America conference in San Francisco. The presentation detailed the Consumer Voice’s work with advocates across the country to empower consumers to be self-advocates for quality care while building a bridge between the aging and disability communities. In keeping with this work, the presentation outlines the steps taken to make the consumer guide easily accessible to persons with disabilities on the Consumer Voice website using low-cost and effective technology. Also highlighted were three citizen advocacy groups’ work to develop and distribute a state-specific guide aimed at educating and empowering older adults and persons with disabilities in need of long-term-care services to make informed decisions and become self-advocates for quality long-term care. The Consumer Voice is in the process of developing a “How To” document to help citizen advocacy groups across the country produce and disseminate their own guides. Access the presentation slides online.
Advocacy Toolkit
Government Reports
Outside Publications & Resources
Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias
Discharge Planning
Home & Community-Based Care
- The Center for Personal Assistance Services (PAS) presents data, publications, presentations, links, webcasts and policy and legislation in the following areas:
- Need for PAS - Analysis and description of trends and needs of the population of PAS consumers, including those who are employed or seeking employment.
- Home and Community-Based Services - Federal and state initiatives related to the Olmstead decision, waiting lists, Olmstead litigation and other initiatives; identification of gaps in programs and services; and analysis of state PAS policies and barriers to PAS.
- Workers and Caregivers (PAS Workforce) - Tools and supports for unpaid caregivers that reflect the changing needs of caregivers as they age; strategies that lead to a PAS workforce that is geographically diverse and that maximizes workforce recruitment, retention, compensation and benefits, professional training, development, and networking; and evaluation of interventions and labor resources, such as job training services that help to improve workforce capacity of PAS providers.
- Economics & Workplace PAS - Understanding the personal costs of PAS; analysis of tax reimbursement polices relating to PAS.
- Emergency Preparedness - Analysis of strategies to coordinate and secure PAS services during national and regional emergencies.
LGBT
- Stories from the Field: LGBT Older Adults in Long Term Care Facilities
The National Senior Citizens Law Center (NSCLC), in collaboration with Lambda Legal, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the National Center for Transgender Equality, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE), has published a report on the experiences of LGBT elders in long-term care facilities based on a survey seeking to better understand the experiences of LGBT older adults in long-term care settings. The report includes hundreds of stories and comments from LGBT elders across the country as well as policy recommendations and pertinent resources. For more information, please visit www.lgbtlongtermcare.org.
Nursing Homes
- *NEW* OSCAR Nursing Facilities press release, 2011
- *NEW* Nursing Facilities, Staffing, Residents and Facility Deficiencies, 2005 Through 2010
- Compare Nursing Homes with www.LTCfocUS.org
- Compare Nursing Homes with Medicare's Nursing Home Compare
- Nursing Facilities, Staffing, Residents, and Facility Deficiencies, 2004 Through 2009
- Nursing Facilities, Staffing, Residents and Facility Deficiencies, 2003 Through 2008
- Improving Nursing Home Enforcement: Findings From Enforcement Case Studies
- Advancing Nursing Home Quality Through Quality Improvement Itself (Full Text)
- Diversion, Transition Programs Target Nursing Homes’ Status Quo (Full Text)
- Raising The Standard: Palliative Care In Nursing Homes (Full Text)
- The Long Term Care Community Coalition of New York Releases Study on Government Monitoring & Oversight of Nursing Home Care
Long-Term Care
Pharmaceuticals
Workforce
- PHI California Direct Care Workforce Fact Sheet
- Understanding Direct Care Workers: A Snapshot of Two of America's Most Important Jobs - Certified Nursing Assistants and Home Home Health Aides (March 2011)
This chart book highlights findings from two new federally sponsored national surveys: the 2004 National Nursing Assistant Survey and the 2007 National Home Health Aide Survey. Both surveys represent a major advance in the data available about two of America’s most important jobs -- certified nursing assistants working in nursing homes and home health aides work in home health and hospice care settings. The chart book is intended to help multiple audiences understand these jobs, issues, and challenges; and establish useful benchmarks as goals toward which improvement efforts might aspire. This chart is also available in PDF.
- The PHI State Data Center
This web-based tool hosting state-by-state profiles of the direct-care workforce, including nursing home aides, home health aides and personal care assistants. The data center provides charts with direct-care workforce statistics for each state. The website also features information on workforce size and projected employment growth, trends in wages for each direct-care occupation and information on health insurance coverage rates and reliance on public assistance; it provides links to legislation and regulatory developments pertaining to the workforce, state-based initiatives and other efforts to improve the quality of care and direct-care worker jobs, employer best practices and other resources.
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