HUD Section 811 Listening Session - April 14th

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This past January, President Obama signed into law the Frank Melville Supportive Housing Investment Act, amending and updating the Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities program.  Among other things, this bill provides a new authority to HUD to allocate long term operating assistance funds to states where a strong supportive housing plan exists to link services to mainstream affordable housing for persons with disabilities.

HUD will be holding a listening session on April 14^th from 1:00 – 3:00 pm to get stakeholder input and hear suggestions on how HUD might implement this new authority.  You are invited to attend.  However, participation is limited to 50 individuals so please RSVP by April 4^th, 2011 to Lisa Wimbush-Lathern at lisa.a.wimbushlathern@hud.gov.

The session will be held in the Brooke-Mondale Auditorium at HUD Headquarters in Washington , DC .  A conference call-in number will be provided for those unable to attend in person.

We look forward to your input and thank you in advance for your participation.

Carol J. Galante

Deputy Assistant Secretary

    for Multifamily Housing Programs

U.S. Department of HUD

451-7th Street, SW Room 6106

Washington, DC   20410

(202) 708-2495 (main line)

(202) 708-2583 (fax)

Deafness and Dementia May Be Linked

By Michael Smith, North American Correspondent, MedPage Today

Hearing loss appears to be associated with an increased risk of developing dementia, researchers reported.

In a prospective analysis of more than 600 people free of cognitive decline, the risk of all-cause dementia rose 27% for every 10-decibel loss of hearing at the start of the almost 12-year study, according to Frank Lin, MD, PhD, of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and colleagues.

The risk of Alzheimer's rose in a similar fashion, but did not reach statistical significance, Lin and co-authors reported in the February issue of Archives of Neurology.

The findings support the notion that the social isolation caused by deafness may be part of the cause of dementia, Lin and colleagues argued -- especially since the association was only seen for deafness above the level at which verbal communication is impaired.
Full Article

Consumer Choice Technology Hearing

Tuesday, June 29, 2010  |  8 a.m. to 5:15 p.m.

Grand Hyatt Hotel
1000 H Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20001
Meeting Location: Constitution Ballroom, Constitution Level

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Held by the Privacy and Security Tiger Team, the meeting will be a discussion about technologies that enable consumers to choose whether or not to share their information in a health information exchange. The morning session will be devoted to hearing testimony from current users of these technologies, followed by developer demonstrations.

The afternoon session will feature testimony and demonstrations by developers of "cutting edge" technologies that may, in the future, be useful in the clinical care setting. After both sessions, a panel of experts will ask questions of the presenters. The Tiger Team will also have time to ask questions of the presenters and the experts. The hearing is open to the public, and there will be time in both the morning and afternoon for public testimony and questions. A preliminary agenda (subject to change) and Web registration form are available on the hearing Web site.

Register Now  |  View Agenda   (50.3 KB)  |  Get Hotel Information 

Impact on Senior Citizens of Rising Drug Prices in Medicare to Be Hearing Topic

The Special Committee on Aging will convene Wednesday, March 17, for a hearing to examine the rise of prescription drug prices in America and its impact on senior citizens who participate in the Medicare Part D program. Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) will be the acting chairman.

Witnesses will offer testimony on various topics, including cost-sharing under Part D, how pharmaceutical pricing makes it difficult for Part D plans to negotiate discounts, and policy options for closing the doughnut hole and curbing escalating drug prices, according to a news release from the office of the committee chairman, Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI).

“Seniors Feeling the Squeeze: Rising Drug Prices and the Part D Program,” will convene at 2:30 p.m. in Room 562, Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Among those providing testimony will be the following.

● Dr. Gerard Anderson, Director, Center for Hospital Finance and Management, and Professor, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
● John Dicken, Director, Health Care, U.S. Government Accountability Office, Washington, D.C.
● Greg Hamilton, pharmaceutical industry expert, Algonquin, IL
● Willafay McKenna, Medicare Part D beneficiary, Williamsburg, VA
● John Calfee, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute, Washington, D.C.

The hearing can be viewed live or at a later time by a webcast. A link to the webcast can be found at the committee’s website: http://www.aging.senate.gov/

S. 1624: Medical Bankruptcy Fairness Act of 2009 (GovTrack.us)

A bill to amend title 11 of the United States Code, to provide protection for medical debt homeowners, to restore bankruptcy protections for individuals experiencing economic distress as caregivers to ill, injured, or disabled family members, and to exempt from means testing debtors whose financial problems were caused by serious medical problems, and for other purposes.

Committee on the Judiciary has scheduled a hearing on this bill for October 29 at 10:00 am.

Updated Information(when available)

Listening Session on Hospital-Acquired Conditions

This notice announces a listening session being conducted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to solicit informal comments on hospital-acquired conditions (HACs) and hospital outpatient healthcare-
associated conditions (HOP-HACs) in preparation for the fiscal year (FY) 2010 inpatient prospective payment systems (IPPS) and calendar year (CY) 2010 outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS) rulemaking processes.

Hospitals, hospital associations, representatives of consumer purchasers, payors of health care services, and other interested parties are invited to attend and make comments in person or in writing.

The listening session will be held on Thursday, December 18, 2008 from 10 a.m. e.s.t. until 5 p.m. e.s.t.

It will also be possible to listen to the session by teleconference. Verbal comments will be taken from telephone participants as time permits. This meeting is open to the public, but registration is required.

Plan To Transition to a Medicare Value-Based Purchasing

This notice announces a listening session being conducted as part of the development of a plan for the transition to a value-based purchasing program for physician and other professional services as required by section 131(d) of the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (MIPPA). The purpose of the listening session is to solicit comments on an issues paper that will present the range of issues being considered for plan development. Physicians, physician associations, and all others interested in the pursuit of new payment approaches to enhance the quality and efficiency of physician and other professional services are invited to participate, in person or by calling in to the teleconference. The issues paper will be posted on the CMS Web site Physician Center Spotlights at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/center/physician.asp no later than November 28, 2008. The issues identified and discussed during this meeting will assist us in developing options for the plan. The meeting is open to the public, but attendance is limited to space and teleconference lines available. Meeting Date: The listening session will be held on Tuesday, December 9, 2008 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. e.s.t.

Investment Advice--Participants and Benficiaries; Hearing

The Department of Labor will hold a hearing on the Department's proposed regulation under provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA, or the Act), and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (Code), relating to the provision of investment advice to participants and beneficiaries of self-directed individual account plans and individual retirement accounts (IRAs). DATES: The hearing will be held on October 21, 2008, beginning at 8 a.m., EST. Persons interested in presenting testimony and answering questions at the public hearing must submit requests and certain other information (as discussed below), by 3:30 p.m., EST, October 16, 2008.

Waiting for the Wrong Answer 1-800-Medicare

AsclepiosYour Weekly Medicare Consumer Advocacy Update Waiting for the Wrong Answer September 11, 2008 • Volume 8, Issue 37 There are two basic problems with 1-800-Medicare, the toll-free consumer hotline for people with Medicare: (1) It takes too long to talk to a live person, and (2) When a live person does get on the line, they often give out incorrect or incomprehensible information. The consequences of this shoddy service are numerous, but in general, bad advice on a Medicare problem means consumers pay much more out of pocket than they should and they do not receive the health care they need. Today, Senator Gordon Smith, Republican of Oregon, called Kerry Weems, acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and John Curtis, CEO of Vangent, the contractor running 1-800-Medicare, before the Senate Special Committee on Aging to see if improvements could be made to the hotline’s service. Senator Smith’s staff had spent hundreds of hours cataloguing the bad information given out by 1-800-Medicare operators and demonstrated that during peak hours, the typical caller waits much longer than the 8.5 minute average hold time touted by CMS. At the hearing, the Medicare Rights Center and other advocacy groups testified that the misinformation from 1-800-Medicare continues, as do frequent half-hour waits for a live customer service representative. Weems promised the committee that average wait times for the hotline would be lower when the annual enrollment period for the Part D drug benefit begins this fall, and new initiatives would reduce the number of people holding for a customer service representative. However, little was said that would give consumers confidence that much-needed improvements in operator training will be forthcoming, or that the scripts used by operators will be jargon-free and provide callers with the help they need in language they can understand. One suggestion in this regard—that CMS employ the expertise of State Health Insurance Assistance Programs (SHIPs) and counselors at the Medicare Rights Center to develop consumer-friendly scripts and effective training programs for hotline operators—is worth pursuing. People with Medicare deserve accurate and understandable information about the increasingly complex coverage choices they face. CMS should make an effective consumer hotline the centerpiece of a renewed focus on helping their customer base—people with Medicare. Medical Record “Another client from New York called 1-800-Medicare to enquire about enrolling in Medicare Part B. She is 70 years old, enrolled in Part A, and has employer-sponsored insurance. The customer service representative told the client that she would not be able to enroll in Part B until the following January, that coverage would not begin until July, and that she would be subject to a late enrollment penalty. All of the information provided by the representative was wrong. After calling the Medicare Rights Center and being given accurate information, the client went to her local Social Security Office to begin the process of enrolling in Medicare Part B.” (Testimony to Senate Special Committee on Aging, Medicare Rights Center, September 2008) “Feedback from advocates, community partners, and Congress is welcome and incorporated on a regular basis in order to improve and sustain our call center operations. CMS will continue to work with our partners in the coming months to ensure that 1-800-Medicare maintains its place as a valuable resource for all people with Medicare.” (Testimony of CMS Acting Administrator Kerry Weems before the Senate Special Committee on Aging, September 2008)

Hearing on Establishing a Modern Poverty Measure

THURSDAY, JULY 17, 2008 - BEGINNING AT 10:00 AM B-318 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING Witnesses Panel: Tentative Rebecca Blank, Ph.D., Robert V. Kerr Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution Sheldon Danziger, Ph.D., H.J. Meyer, Distinguished University Professor of Public Policy, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan, Anne Arbor, Michigan Douglas W. Nelson, President/Chief Executive Officer, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Baltimore, Maryland Mark Levitan, Ph.D., Director of Poverty Research, NYC Center for Economic Opportunity, New York, New York Bruce D. Meyer, Ph.D., McCormick Tribune Professor, Harris School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

Establishing a Modern Poverty Measure

McDermott Announces Hearing on Establishing a Modern Poverty Measure Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support of the Committee on Ways and Means, today announced that the Subcommittee will hold a hearing on a draft proposal to establish a modern measure of poverty in the United States. The hearing will take place on Thursday, July 17, 2008, at 10:00 a.m. in B-318, Rayburn House Office Building. In view of the limited time available to hear witnesses, oral testimony at this hearing will be from invited witnesses only. However, any individual or organization not scheduled to appear may submit a written statement for consideration by the Subcommittee and for inclusion in the record of the hearing.

Public Testimony on July 15 Re "Good-Bye Full Accessibility."

Public Testimony on July 15 Re "Good-Bye Full Accessibility." Information Bulletin # 253 (7/08).In Information Bulletin #250, entitled "Good-Bye Full Accessibility," Steve Gold summarized the U.S. Department of Justice's June 17, 2008 ProposedRulemaking which propose significant amendments to Titles II and III'sfederal regulations and which will profoundly affect access to publicfacilities and to public accommodations and commercial facilities. On June 30, 2008, DOJ announced a public hearing on these proposedamendments and scheduled the hearing for July 15, 2008 at the MarriotHotel, 775 12th Street, NW, Washington, D.C. If you wish to presentcomments at the hearing, you are "encouraged to register in advance."Telephone 800-514-0301 (voice) and 800-514-9383 (TTY) by July 7, 2008. "Comments will be limited to five minutes per person or organization, butcommenters who wish to may supplement their testimony with writtenstatements. "Our basic problem is with the proposed regulations are that the "safeharbor" provisions will significantly limit accessibility in publicfacilities (e.g., playgrounds, swimming pools, buildings) and publicaccommodations (e.g., stores). We will not review the specifics alreadyoutlined in Bulletin #250. Some people pointed out that even without the "safe harbor" provisions,many stores and other public accommodations had not, sixteen years afterthe ADA federal regulations were initially promulgated in 1992, removed"readily achievable barriers" and had not made their facilitiesaccessible. These accommodations had tax deductions and tax creditsavailable, and still did not make their facilities accessible. With theproposed rules, DOJ provides added excuses for not making facilities fullyaccessible. Even though DOJ has not provided a lot of time either to plan to come toDC or to testify, we think DOJ should hear about your efforts to implementaccessibility and the excuses/successes provided in the past under theexisting regulations. For example, the Philadelphia Inquirer on 6/25/08 quoted Liberty Resources' Executive Director Thomas Earle who had identified 42 businesses with a single step barrier. Despite Libertywriting letters to the owners of inaccessible restaurants, e.g., to theSnow White Restaurant and to Pandora's Lunch Box, owners neither respondedor wrote back, nor made their facilities accessible.So the bottom line, why would DOJ propose regulatory amendments that willreduce accessibility? Who are the forces behind these proposals? Why didnot DOJ propose to strengthen the existing regulations to improveaccessibility? We thought the ADA was supposed to "eventually" result in a barrier freecountry. Silly us. Power concedes nothing without a struggle! Steve Gold, The Disability Odyssey continuesBack issues of other Information Bulletins are available online at http://www.stevegoldada.com with a searchable Archive at this site divided into different subjects. To contact Steve Gold directly, write to stevegoldada@cs.com

Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in State and Local Government Services and Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability by Public Accomda

On June 17, 2008, the Department of Justice (Department) published two Notices of Proposed Rulemaking in the Federal Register to amend regulations issued under Titles II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in State and Local Government Services, 73 FR 34466; Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability by Public Accommodations and in Commercial Facilities, 73 FR 34508. In this issue of the Federal Register, the Department published corrections for the proposed rules that included two appendices inadvertently omitted from the June 17, 2008, publication. In order to provide an opportunity for interested persons to express their views directly to Department officials, the Department will hold a public hearing in Washington, DC, on the proposed regulatory amendments. DATES: The public hearing is scheduled for July 15, 2008, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Eastern Daylight Time. ADDRESSES: The hearing will be held at the Marriott Hotel at Metro Center, 775 12th Street, NW., Washington, DC 20005, (202) 737-2200. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Linda Garrett, Civil Rights Program Specialist, Disability Rights Section, Civil Rights Division at (202) 353-0423 (TTY). This is not a toll-free number. Information also may be obtained from the Department's toll-free ADA Information Line at (800) 514-0301 (Voice) or (800) 514-0383 (TTY), 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, and 12:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday.