June 25, 2007 - Vol 1, Issue 17
NYC Budget Includes $2.67 Million for Geriatric Mental Health Services
The NYC Fiscal 2008 Budget includes $2.67 million for the Geriatric Mental Health Initiative which provides mental health services to older adults in non- traditional settings such as in their homes and in senior centers. This represents an enhancement of $1 million.
The Initiative was led by The Coalition of Behavioral Mental Agencies and United Neighborhood Houses, with support from the Alliance, the Council of Senior Centers and Services, the Federation for Protestant Welfare Agencies and UJA Federation.
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Advocacy Alert: OMH Hearings on 5.07
Statewide Plan for Comprehensive Mental Health Services 2007 Informational Briefings and Public Hearings
MARK YOUR CALENDARS AND ORGANIZE!
July 09 Poughkeesie
July 19 Batavia
July 20 Syracuse
July 30 New York
July 31 West Brentwood
Commissioner Hogan and Deputy Commissioner Simons have scheduled the 2007 Regional Statewide Comprehensive Plan for Mental Health Services Forums.
The Geriatric Mental Health Alliance of NYS needs to be highly visible at these hearings. The Commissioners wish to focus on "emerging themes and priorities [...] identified by stakeholders", specifically,
- Mental Health services for children and families
- Housing Priorities
- Coordinated Care
While issues affecting our aging population have not been specifically identified, they are clearly relevant to housing and coordinated care. It is our responsibility to bring them to the forefront.
We will be sending you further information regarding additional priorities on our advocacy agenda reached by consensus at our recent Alliance meeting in Albany. We also have "AGING MATTERS" buttons which we can send you and encourage you to wear.
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Update on Listening Forums
We are excited to report that a number of people spoke about aging, including geriatric mental health at the listening forum in Buffalo on Monday. The third and fourth listening forums hosted by the state commissioners of OMH, DOH, OASAS, and OMRDD took place in Buffalo and Syracuse earlier this past week. Several Alliance members were present at both forums and many attendees wore buttons we distributed that said "Aging Matters".
Here is info on the final forum:
Plattsburg - July 13th from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.
Location: Clinton Community College, Stafford Center for Arts and Technology, 136 Clinton Point Drive, Plattsburgh, NY
If you cannot attend any of the forums but want to provide feedback, you can submit comments online. If you do submit comments, please send a copy to us.
For more information about the listening tours, please visit the OMH website.
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Upcoming Events
July 11, 2007 - Stress Affects Wellness: Let's Do Something About It! The NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, Office of Consumer Affairs, presents the second of four workshops on Health, Wellness and Recovery. The workshop will take place from 5 to 7 PM at Fountain House, 425 West 47th St. (between 9th and 10th Avenues). Please see flyer for more info.
July 19 - Third Thursday Breakfast: Alzheimer's Disease A broadcast series on public health issues sponsored by the above listed organizations. The session will feature Mary Mittelman of the NYU School of Medicine and Earl Zimmerman of the Albany Medical Center Neurology Group. The session will occur from 9:00-10:00am. It will be available via satellite downlink, via a live webcast, and available as an archived online webstream two weeks after each broadcast. Please see flyer for more information.
September 18, 2007- Mental Illness and the Older Client: A Challenge for Geriatric Care Managers sponsored by the Greater New York Chapter NAPGCM. Dr. Mark Nathanson is the opening keynote speaker and Michael Friedman is the luncheon keynote. The conference will be from 8:00am-4:15pm at the New York Academy of Medicine. Please view the save the date card for more information.
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Useful Tools from The Medicare Rights Center
The Medicare Rights Center's Professional Hotline
Press Release
June 18, 2007
Contact: Deane Beebe, Public Affairs Director
212-204-6219
National Hotline Expands to Assist Professionals with Clients' Full Array of Medicare Questions and Problems
--Consumer Group Provides Support to Social Service, Health Care and Legal Professionals--
The Medicare Rights Center's Professional Hotline is now providing comprehensive guidance on a complete spectrum of Medicare benefits, rights and options to professionals who assist older adults and people with disabilities who have Medicare.
Launched in 2005 to support social workers and health care professionals in need of advice on the new Medicare prescription drug benefit available through private drug plans, the hotline service has just expanded to cover all consumer-related Medicare issues.
Hotline counselors now give free and expert information about a range of topics, including: how to appeal Medicare private health and drug plan denials; help for victims of Medicare private health plan marketing schemes; how the Medicare drug benefit works with Medicaid, state pharmaceutical assistance programs and other drug coverage; resources for low- income people with Medicare; and how Medicare covers care in the home, skilled nursing facilities and hospitals, and durable medical equipment.
"Professionals can access accurate, unbiased information with just a phone call," said Robert M. Hayes, president of the Medicare Rights Center, a national consumer group. "The Medicare Rights Center staff helps professionals serve their clients more effectively by providing Medicare-related information in a consumer-friendly and timely manner."
The Professional Hotline is available Monday through Friday, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (eastern time) at 1-877-RxHELP-0 (1-877-794-3570).
Medicare Interactive
The Medicare Rights Center has made their award-winning web tool Medicare Interactive (MI) publicly available to help you guide your clients through the Medicare maze. Now professionals and consumers across the country can access the timeliest information on all aspects of Medicare -- from the new Medicare prescription drug benefit, coverage details and appeal rights to coordinating benefits, long-term care, and low-income assistance. MI is chock full of the most essential Medicare information. It is easy to navigate and easy to read. Log on at http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=9h55nbcab.0.bczumbcab.65m45zbab.1&ts=S0260&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.medicarerights.org%2Fhelp.html today!
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In the News
City Checks On Care For Fragile Adults
By Rachel Nielsen
June 18, 2007
A snapshot of the city's Adult Protective Services program makes for a compelling picture. Its clients are New Yorkers with mental and physical impairments who can't manage daily tasks and don't have a relative or friend to handle their care. Its caseload contained more than 6,000 active cases earlier this year, and APS caseworkers are handling anywhere from 27 cases on average on Staten Island, to an average of 42 in Manhattan. Yet caseworkers typically don't have city-issued cellphones, nor...
To view the rest of the article, click here.
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Concern mounts over caregiver shortage
By David Crary
AP National Writer
June 14, 2007
NEW YORK -- As the huge baby boomer generation surges toward retirement age, an unsettling issue grows ever more pressing: finding the work force to tend to the millions of boomers who will someday need ongoing care because of physical and mental frailties. Alarm is spreading across the health care sector in the face of stark demographics.
There will be an enormous increase in America's elderly population in the next few decades, while the traditional labor pool for caregivers - women from their mid-20s to mid-50s - will scarcely grow at all, compounding problems for a work force already beset by low wages and high turnover.
Federal statistics suggest that roughly 3 million people work in direct-care jobs, mainly with the elderly, as nursing assistants, home health aides and personal care aides. Experts project there will be demand for nearly 1 million more of these workers in the next decade, and perhaps a total of 3 million more by 2030 - when all surviving members of the 78- million-strong boomer generation are older than 65.
Direct-care workers "are the hands, voice and face of long-term care for millions of elders," said Steven Dawson, president of the New York-based Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute.
To read the complete article, click here.
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U.S. Supreme Court Rules Home Health Care Workers Not Entitled To Minimum Wage, Overtime Pay
From Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report
June 14, 2007
The Supreme Court on Monday in a 9-0 decision ruled that federal minimum wage and overtime laws do not apply to home care workers, the AP/Lincoln Journal Star reports (Yost, AP/Lincoln Journal Star, 5/11). In the case, Evelyn Coke, a 73-year-old immigrant from Jamaica, filed a lawsuit against New York-based Long Island Care at Home to challenge Department of Labor regulations that exempt home care workers from the laws. The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case after the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the regulations, which the court said conflicted with congressional intent.
Congress in 1974 amended the Fair Labor Standards Act to extend federal minimum wage and overtime laws to household workers but exempted baby sitters and "companions" for the elderly and those with illnesses. In 1975, DOL proposed regulations to implement the revisions to the law that exempted home care workers. In a brief, Long Island Care argued that the regulations were consistent with congressional intent because some lawmakers had raised concerns about the need to reduce costs. According to the brief, "The need to restrain costs in the case of third-party employees has only become more acute as agencies provide an increasing amount of needed care."
However, attorney Craig Becker, who represents Coke, argued that the "exemption for baby sitters and companions Congress had in mind the quintessential neighbor-to-neighbor relations," adding, "Increasingly, this is not a casual form of work akin to baby-sitting but a full-time regular type of employment." The case applies only to home health care workers employed by agencies (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 4/17)
To read the complete article, click here.
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Job Announcement: Part-Time Geriatric Mental Health Training Center Director
The Geriatric Mental Health Alliance has an opening for a part-time Training Center Director whose responsibility will be to plan for the development of a Geriatric Mental Health Training and Technical Assistance Center. Please see job description for more information. Feel free to circulate to those who might be interested. If you have questions you may contact Kim at 212-614-5751 or steinhagenk@mhaofnyc.org
