Federal Judge Issues Ruling on FLSA Regulation  

FCC Accepting Nominations for Chairman's Accessibility Awards 

The Federal Communications Commission is accepting nominations for the 4th Chairman's Awards for Advancement in Accessibility from January 5 - March 5, 2015. The awards recognize innovative products, services, technologies, and practices that advance accessibility of communications or video programming technologies for people with disabilities. Nomination categories include wearable devices, real-time text, and video description.  

Nominations may be submitted to ChairmansAAA@fcc.gov no later than March 5, 2015. 

Report on Disability Advocacy Services Released 

The GAO has released a report examining Supplemental Security Income/Disability Insurance (SSI/DI) advocacy practices across states. The report, Social Security Disability Benefits: Agency could Improve Oversight of Representatives Providing Disability Advocacy Services, highlights SSI/DI advocacy approaches in Minnesota, Hawaii, and New York, and also provides recommendations for improved oversight by the Social Security Administration.   

Click here to access the full report.  

• Transforming clinical training environments to integrated geriatrics and primary care delivery systems to ensure trainees are well prepared to practice in and lead these kinds of systems.
• Developing providers who can assess and address the needs of older adults and their families/caregivers at the individual, community, and population levels.
• Creating and delivering community-based programs that will provide patients, families and caregivers with the knowledge and skills to improve health outcomes and the quality of care for the older adult(s).
• Providing Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) education to families, caregivers, direct care workers and health professions students, faculty, and providers.

The 2015 White House Conference on Aging (WHCOA) has announced a series of regional forums aimed to facilitate input from older Americans, families, caregivers, advocates, and experts. The first forum will take place in Tampa, FL on February 19. Additional forums will follow in Phoenix, AZ on March 31; Seattle, WA on April 9; Cleveland, OH on April 27; and Boston, MA on May 28.   

Click here to read the complete blog announcement.

The Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions (HELP) Committee intends to introduce the Older Americans Act Reauthorization Act of 2015 on Tuesday, January 20. The proposed bill is similar to the one from last Congress, with two changes:  

1. Includes a compromise to address Title III grants formula
2. Removes a since-completed GAO report on transportation.

Changes to Ombudsman provisions, abuse prevention, ADRCs, and other policy items will reflect prior OAA reauthorization packages.  

Click here for the bill summary.

The Wyoming Department of Family Services has released the state's first Adult Protection Services report, The Wyoming Cost of Financial Exploitation 2011, 2012 and 2013. The report aims to determine the cost of financial abuse of vulnerable adults on state systems. The study reviews 32 cases across the three-year span and provides a comparative analysis of the financial losses to both Medicaid and the victimized seniors across the years.   

Click here for access to the full report.

The Alliance of Information and Referral Systems (AIRS) has released the call for proposals for the 2015 Annual Information and Referral (I&R) Training and Education Conference. Next year's conference is being held in Dallas, Texas with pre-conference intensives on May 27 and the regular conference May 28-30. 

AIRS is seeking workshops addressing the breadth of I&R service delivery. The Aging and Disability track provides a valuable opportunity to share developments and effective practices in serving older adults and persons with disabilities with I&R colleagues across the country. This track is coordinated by NASUAD's I&R Support Center, which strongly encourages aging and disability I&R agencies to review the call for proposals and consider a submission. Past topics are listed on the AIRS site here, and the current call for proposals is available here. For ideas on workshop topics, please see these suggestions from conference attendees. Additionally, topics such as elder justice, mental health, aging with a disability, developments in home and community-based services, cross-sector partnerships and collaboration, no wrong door system building, ADRC funding and sustainability, business acumen, and data collection and quality assurance are topics of interest in aging and disability I&R. 

The deadline for proposal submissions is February 10, 2015. Send submissions for the Aging and Disability track to Nanette Relave at nrelave@nasuad.org.

2015 National Health Policy Conference

The NHPC brings together experts in health policy who will provide analysis and feedback on the health policy environment and will discuss how changes in government will impact ACA implementation. With input from leading health policy experts, the conference aims enhance your understanding of the current and future health policy landscape. Designed as an in-depth, two day interactive conference, the NHPC will take place February 9-10, 2015 at the Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown Hotel. Sessions will address innovations in care delivery and financing, updates on state experiences with Medicaid and the exchanges, and opportunities and challenges for the evolving health care workforce.

Click here to view the full conference agenda and register.

The DC Office on Aging (DCOA) is looking for a full time statistician/program evaluator. Responsibilities include preparing analytical reports using SAS and/or SPSS; serving as DCOA's liaison to the public, private providers, and government officials; and conducting program evaluation for various components of the DCOA. Applicants should be knowledgeable of data management methods and possess a bachelor's degree in Statistics, Computer Science, Mathematics or a related science discipline. The job posting will close Wednesday, January 21.  

Click here to view the full job description.

Click here to apply.  

The AAPD Summer Internship Program provides the opportunity to gain hands-on professional experience to help advance your career goals. AAPD places students and recent graduates with all types of disabilities in paid 10-week summer internships in Congressional offices, federal agencies, nonprofit and for-profit organizations. At the beginning of the summer, interns participate in a 1-week orientation session to learn about AAPD as well as the disability rights movement, meet the other interns, and participate in a variety of engaging workshops and events. Interns will receive a stipend, mentor matching, and additional resources during the summer. Candidates interested in careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and veterans with disabilities are highly encouraged to apply.

Any college student (degree and non-degree seeking), graduate student, law student, recent graduate (within one year) and veteran who self-identifies as an individual with any type of disability is invited to apply. Applicants will not be required to disclose a specific disability; however, the application for this program will signify that the applicant considers him/herself a person with a disability.  

Internship program details are available here. Applications should be emailed to internship@aapd.com. Applications are due by Friday, February 6 at 5:00 p.m. ET.