The Direct Care News 
For direct care workers and their allies April 10, 2012
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Worker and Consumer Panel Grounds Discussion at Home Care Conference
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 | | Connie Kreider |
"We got bombarded afterwards by people who had more questions. They were very interested in what we had to say," says home care worker Peg Ankney of the national Quality Work, Quality Care home care conference held on April 2 in Washington, D.C.
Peg and her fellow home care worker Connie Kreider, both of whom are members of the Direct Care Alliance and the Pennsylvania Direct Care Worker Association, were joined by home care consumer family members Jim Croft and Jamie Bosland at a panel on the positive and negative aspects of home care work.
"All of us on the panel were geared in the same direction in what we talked about, and that was putting the needs of the residents first," says Connie.
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Direct from Washington, DC
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Support for direct care bill grows: Senator Barbara Mikulski (MD) recently signed on as a co-sponsor of the Direct Care Job Quality Improvement Act (S. 1273/H.R. 2341). Sen. Mikulski joins 7 other co-sponsors of the Senate bill and 35 co-sponsors of the House bill who are listening to the voices of direct care workers. Please take a minute to ask your Representative to support the Direct Care Job Quality Improvement Act and oppose H.R. 3066, which seeks to maintain the exemption of home care workers from minimum wage and overtime protections.
CMS to host webinar on the direct care workforce: The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Direct Service Workforce Resource Center is hosting a webinar titled Core Competencies for the Direct Service Workforce on Monday, April 23, from 3:00-4:30 pm. Register here.
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Skilled Nursing Rate Cuts Pose Threat to CNAs
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 Recent cuts in the Medicare and Medicaid rates paid to skilled nursing facilities have caused nursing homes to hire fewer direct care and other workers and reduce wages and benefits, according to a survey commissioned by The Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care (AQHNC). The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reduced Medicare payments to nursing homes by 11.1 percent last August. This February, Congress passed the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, which made further cuts to Medicare payments. Meanwhile, many states have reduced or frozen Medicaid reimbursement rates for nursing homes. AQNHC's Spring 2012 Care Context report explores the impact of these reductions. Read the rest of AQNHC President Alan Rosenbloom's post. |
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