| A newsletter of FCA's National Center on Caregiving |
March 5, 2008
Volume VIII, Number 5
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IN THIS ISSUE
State Legislation, Policy & Reports
- California: Paid Sick Days Legislation Introduced More...
- Kansas: Legislation Would Establish Lifespan Respite Care Program More...
- New York: Bill Would Establish Home Health Care Demonstration Programs More...
Federal Legislation, Policy & Reports
- Proposed Medicaid Rules Would Limit Case Management Services More...
- Nursing Home Transparency and Improvement Act Introduced More...
International News
- "China Promises to Develop Better Support Services for Homecare for the Elderly" More...
Research Reports & Journal Articles
- "Decision-Making Involvement Scale for Individuals with Dementia and Family Caregivers" More...
- Study Shows Caregiver Counseling Helps Reduce Burden and Depression During Transitions More...
- "Families and Assisted Living" More...
Conferences & Trainings
- 2008 NCOA-ASA Conference March 26-30 More...
- Save the Date: APHA Annual Meeting October 25-29 More...
Funding, Media & Miscellaneous
- FCA Receives Grant to Establish National Alzheimer's Disease Caregiving Award More...
- eXtension Launches Website with Information for Family Caregivers More...
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California: Paid Sick Days Legislation Introduced
On February 27, 2008, California Assemblywoman Fiona Ma introduced a bill that would allow all workers in the state to accrue paid sick days for personal illness, to care for a sick family member or to recover from domestic violence or assault. The bill would guarantee workers at small businesses up to 40 hours or 5 days a year of paid sick leave, and other workers 72 hours or 9 paid sick days a year. The City of San Francisco broke ground when it enacted a paid sick days law in 2006. For more information, visit:
Paid Sick Days California
Kansas: Legislation Would Establish Lifespan Respite Care ProgramOn February 27, 2008 a bill was introduced in the Kansas Senate (S. 657) to establish a lifespan respite care program for caregivers who do not qualify for other publicly funded respite services. The legislation requires a study on the need for respite in the state, and it appropriates funds to support the growth and maintenance of a statewide respite coalition, to identify local training resources for respite providers and to link families to respite services and other support. For more information, visit:
Kansas Legislature
New York: Bill Would Establish Home Health Care Demonstration Programs
A bill was introduced in the New York legislature (A. 10042/ S. 7010) on February 26, 2008 to establish home care demonstration programs that would provide eligible individuals with access to high quality, appropriate nursing services. The programs are intended to provide care receivers and family caregivers more choice and control over who provides care and to increase and retain the workforce of nurses willing to provide such care. Licensed home care agencies who participate in the demonstrations must provide families with ongoing education and assistance as is necessary regarding the recruitment, hiring, scheduling and managing of the nurses and describe the agency's quality assurance mechanisms. For more information, visit:
New York Legislature
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Proposed Medicaid Rules Would Limit Case Management Services
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a series of proposed changes to Medicaid regulations last year, including an interim rule proposed in December 2007 which would restrict the scope of case management and targeted case management (TCM) services. Currently, states have the option to provide 180 days of TCM services to help transition Medicaid beneficiaries from nursing homes to community-based care, including helping them line up a variety of supports and services needed to reenter the community. The proposed rule includes such restrictions as limiting coverage to a maximum of 60 days of transitional assistance, withholding payment until a recipient successfully transitions back to the community, and imposing a fixed limit of only one case manager per recipient. Such changes could negatively impact family caregivers, who are often intimately involved in such transitions, as well as beneficiaries of Money Follows the Person programs. Congress is attempting to delay the application of the new rule, which was scheduled to go into effect March 3, 2008. For more information, visit:
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Kaiser Family Foundation
Nursing Home Transparency and Improvement Act Introduced
On February 14, 2008, Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Herb Kohl (D-WI) introduced a bill that would provide consumers, including family caregivers, with more transparency about nursing homes, including accurate information about facility ownership and operations, expenditures and nurse staffing information. The bill, the Nursing Home Transparency and Improvement Act (S. 2641), would bring uniformity and structure to the nursing home complaint process, impose stiffer penalties for serious quality deficiencies, and require a number of studies on issues related to financing and quality of care in nursing homes. For more information, visit:
Thomas
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"China Promises to Develop Better Support Services for Homecare for the Elderly"
An article published on Medindia.com on February 23, 2008 outlines the Chinese government's efforts to enhance its infrastructure of support services for older adults. Under a work plan released by ten Chinese government departments, including the National Committee on Aging, all urban communities, as well as 80% of rural towns and one third of villages, would be required to offer care services for older adults by 2010. Because a majority of the aging Chinese population prefers to live at home, and because an increased number of those older adults are living alone and not with other relatives, services must include in-home care such as skilled nursing care, chore services and meals. For more information, visit:
Medindia.com
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"Decision-Making Involvement Scale for Individuals with Dementia and Family Caregivers"
An article by FCA's Lynn Friss Feinberg and colleagues, "Decision-Making Involvement Scale for Individuals with Dementia and Family Caregivers," was published in the February/ March 2008 issue of the American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias (Volume 23, Number1). The article describes the development and preliminary psychometric properties of the Decision-Making Involvement Scale for adults with dementia and family caregivers. The authors report that the Scale "provides useful information about daily decision making of an individual with dementia, and it shows promise as a means for understanding the relationship between decision-making involvement and well-being of individuals with dementia and caregivers." For more information, visit:
American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias
Study Shows Caregiver Counseling Helps Reduce Burden and Depression During Transitions
An article in the March 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (Volume 56, Issue 3) revealed the results of a study showing that enhanced counseling services for spousal caregivers of adults with Alzheimer's disease helped reduce caregivers' burden and depressive symptoms during times when the care receiver was transitioning into a nursing home. This study also showed that nursing home admission itself reduced burden and depressive symptoms in both caregiver groups (those who did and did not receive the enhanced counseling), although those who did receive the extra support had better results. Read the article by Dr. Joseph Gaugler and colleagues, "Can Counseling and Support Reduce Burden and Depressive Symptoms in Caregivers of People with Alzheimer's Disease During the Transition to Institutionalization? Results from the New York University Caregiver Intervention Study":
Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
"Families and Assisted Living"
A special December 2007 issue of The Gerontologist (Volume 47) focused on research related to assisted living, and it included an article by Drs. Joseph Gaugler and Robert Kane called "Families and Assisted Living." The article examines family involvement in assisted living, including family structures of residents, types of involvement from family members living outside the facility, and outcomes for these family members, including the level of burden. The researchers discovered that families visit residents frequently and provide a wide range of assistance, but only minimal personal care. Families appear to be satisfied, but have potential care burden as well. For more information, visit:
The Gerontologist
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2008 NCOA-ASA Conference March 26-30
The 2008 Joint Conference of the National Council on Aging (NCOA) and the American Society on Aging (ASA) will be held March 26-30, 2008, in Washington, DC. The conference will feature hundreds of sessions covering a wide range of topics in aging, including family caregiving. The conference will bring together a diverse multidisciplinary community of more than 3,500 professionals from the fields of aging, healthcare and education. For more information, visit:
Joint NCOA/ASA Conference
Save the Date: APHA Annual Meeting October 25-29
The American Public Health Association (APHA) is holding its 136th Annual Meeting and Exposition in San Diego October 25-29, 2008. The event addresses all major public health issues, including caregiver health. The theme this year is "Public Health Without Borders." APHA is currently accepting contracts for exhibit space. For more information, visit:
American Public Health Association
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FCA Receives Grant to Establish National Alzheimer's Disease Caregiving Award
The National Center on Caregiving (NCC) at Family Caregiver Alliance (FCA) was awarded a grant from The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation to oversee an awards program to recognize organizations initiating unique programs that address the needs of Alzheimer's caregivers. Under The Rosalinde Gilbert Innovations in Alzheimer Disease Caregiver Legacy Award, FCA will award cash prizes of up to $20,000 in three categories: policy and advocacy for change, creative spirit, and honoring multicultural communities. The selection criteria and application process will be announced by June 1, 2008 on the FCA website. For more information, visit:
Family Caregiver Alliance
eXtension Launches Website with Information for Family Caregivers
On February 21, eXtension, an interactive learning environment based on a partnership of 74 universities, launched a new website that provides information for family caregivers. The family caregiving section includes articles, calendars and events, questions and answers, and links to resources. eXtension provides information online and in other educational formats to consumers interested in learning from university-based researchers who are experts in their fields. For more information, visit:
eXtension
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©2008 Family Caregiver Alliance. All rights reserved.
The National Center on Caregiving at Family Caregiver Alliance works to advance the development of high-quality and cost-effective policies and programs for caregivers in every state in the country. The National Center is a central source of information and technical assistance on family caregiving for policymakers, health and service providers, program developers, funders, media and families. For questions or further information about the National Center on Caregiving, contact PolicyDigest@caregiver.org or visit the Family Caregiver Alliance website at www.caregiver.org.
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Caregiving PolicyDigest is a publication of the National Center on Caregiving at Family Caregiver Alliance, 180 Montgomery Street, Suite 1100, San Francisco, CA 94104.
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