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Wednesday, September 30, 2009
National Council On Aging Weekly Newsletter 22 Sept 2009
REMI: Fall 2009 Online Seminar Series
REMI Fall 2009 Seminar Series
REMI (Regional Economic Models, Inc.) is pleased to announce that we are offering an online series of topical seminars throughout the fall. Each presentation will evaluate present or on-going challenges facing the US economy both at the micro- and macro-economic levels, as well as some proposed solutions to those problems.
All presentations for your region are offered on Thursdays and will last approximately one hour in length. You may choose to attend either at 11am EST or 2pm EST. Please click on any of the following links to view the full schedule for that seminar and to register:
· Surviving Flu Season: The State-By-State Economic Effects of an Influenza Pandemic With and Without the Raytheon Early Response System and Mitigation
October 22nd
11:00am EST or 2:00pm EST
This presentation is based on a REMI study that evaluates the economic impacts of avian influenza and it shows the benefits of the Raytheon Early Response System in averting a pandemic.
· Unemployment: When the Benefits Run Out
October 29th
11:00am EST or 2:00pm EST
We will use PI+ to examine the effects of the end of unemployment benefits for those who have been laid off due to the decline of the economy. We will also look at the consequences for those states which are extending these benefits due to the crisis.
· Public Transit: Transportation on a Budget
November 19th
11:00am EST or 2:00pm EST
In this presentation, we will analyze the effects of recent budget cuts on public transit agencies. We will model the different ways in which these agencies are coping with these cuts in tandem with the impacts of these policy changes on the passengers.
· Cap and Trade: What is the cost?
December 3rd
11:00am EST or 2:00pm EST
In this presentation, we will examine the effect of the Waxman-Markey legislation on industries and regional economies. We will focus on its impact on regional competitiveness, particularly regarding energy prices and the cost effects on both consumers and businesses.
These presentations will be offered at no charge via the WebEx Internet Conferencing System. Advanced registration is required. If you would like to attend, please select one of the links above or visit our website at: www.remi.com.
We look forward to your participation!
Yours truly,
Leah Jalbert
Business Development Associate
Regional Economic Models, Inc.
433 West St.
Amherst, MA 01002
tel. 413-549-1169
fax. 413-549-1038
seminars@remi.com
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Health Reform Update: Project 2020 provisions in the bill v. amendments
Dear NASUA Members:
The Senate Finance Committee is debating amendments on health reform and will likely be finished by this week’s end. Senator Cantwell will offer her amendments on Project 2020 either today or tomorrow. Please CALL YOUR SENATORS and URGE them to weigh in with Finance Committee Members TO VOTE YES on Cantwell’s Project 2020 amendments 284, 285, 286, 287, 288 and 289 or use this link to email your Senator and request support for these important amendment.
Suggested Talking Points for Calls/Emails
- I am the Director of the State Unit on Aging in your state, and I am calling to urge Senator ______ to weigh in with the Senate Finance Committee in support of Sen. Cantwell's Amendments #284-289 to the Finance Committee health reform bill. These amendments promote choice and independence for older Americans by providing a budget-neutral investment in home and community-based services.
- The amendments reflect provisions in Project 2020 (S. 1257), which is a bill that invests in state and local programs on: (1) improved information and referral systems on long-term care options, (2) evidence-based health promotion and disease prevention for vulnerable seniors, and (3) keeping at-risk seniors off Medicaid and out of nursing homes for as long as possible with nursing home diversion.
- Together, these three components would produce savings to both states and the federal government by reducing growing costs under the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Amendments 285, 287, and 289 with mandatory funding for this important priority are preferred.
Short Description of Amendments
| 284 | Cantwell C3 | Increase authorized funding to allow for full national implementation of Aging and Disability Resource Centers (ARDC) | Authorizes funding and therefore does not require an offset |
| 285 | Cantwell C4 | Provide mandatory funding to allow for full national implementation of Aging and Disability Resource Centers (ADRC) | Necessary offsets will be provided to ensure budget neutrality |
| 286 | Cantwell C5 | Authorize funding for national implementation of evidence-based wellness and disease prevention programs for older Americans reduce the necessity of institutional care | Amendment authorizes funding and therefore does not require an offset |
| 287 | Cantwell C6 | Provide for mandatory funding for national implementation of evidence based wellness and disease prevention programs for older Americans to reduce the necessity of institutional care | Necessary offsets will be provided to ensure budget neutrality |
| 288 | Cantwell C7 | National implementation of current Administration on Aging (AoA) and CMS nursing home diversion projects | Amendment authorizes funding and therefore does not require an offset |
| 289 | Cantwell C8 | National implementation of current Administration on Aging (AoA) and CMS nursing home diversion projects (with mandatory funding) | Necessary offsets will be provided to ensure budget neutrality |
DO YOU OR DOES YOUR ORGANIZATION WORK WITH SENIORS? KNOW WHAT TO DO ABOUT THE FLU
ABOUT THE FLU
Join U.S. Assistant Secretary for Aging Kathy Greenlee, Sandy Markwood,
CEO, National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (n4a), Jim Firman,
President and CEO, National Council on Aging (NCOA) and the Centers for
Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) for a special FLU.GOV WEBCAST FOR
ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS WHO WORK WITH SENIORS.
DETAILS: Join us WEDNESDAY September 30th, from 1-2 PM (EDT) to learn
more about how to prevent or reduce the spread of the flu with experts
from the U.S. Administration on Aging, the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, the National Council on Aging, and the National
Association of Area Agencies on Aging. Hosted by the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services, the discussion will be webcast live on
flu.gov.
WHAT: H1N1 Preparedness Webcast for the Aging Network
WHEN: Wednesday September 30, 1-2 PM (EDT)
WHERE: Live on www.flu.gov/live No advance registration
necessary
WHERE CAN I FIND MORE INFORMATION ABOUT WHAT THOSE WHO WORK WITH SENIORS
SHOULD DO ABOUT THE FLU?
Flu.gov is your one-stop website for all the latest information about
the flu and the new H1N1 flu virus from the CDC and other top scientists
and doctors across the federal government. Use our www.flu.gov marketing
tools to spread the word about flu.gov to your seniors, friends and
families and help them get the facts too.
Friday, September 25, 2009
State Question 744
Agency heads warn of possible budget impact of education ballot proposal
OKLAHOMA CITY – A $42 million hit on the Oklahoma Department of Transportation budget could delete $395 million from the state’s eight-year highway project list, lawmakers were told Thursday.
Director Gary Ridley detailed the potential effect of a 20-percent cut in funding as a result of a ballot proposal that would require increasing public school funding by about $850 million. ODOT was one of several agencies that outlined possible budget-cut alternatives to the House Appropriations and Budget Committee.
Agency heads were asked to tell the committee how they would cope with budget cuts of up to 20 percent that could be necessary if $850 million had to be shifted into education, without legislative action to boost revenue.
State Question 744, which would necessitate a vote of the people, would require increasing per-pupil spending on public schools to the regional average.
Ridley said that with a $42 million cut, the agency could not sell some $150 million in bonds because it could not fund the debt service required to retire them. He said the ultimate cost could be a net $395 million loss in the highway-construction program, or about 25 percent of state construction funds, over the next eight years.
He said another way to look at the loss is that the state may not be able to build 197 needed bridges.
“The impact it would have on the agency would certainly put us back many years,” Ridley said. “It would put us in an unmanageable position.”
Ridley said ODOT is funded at about 60 percent of the regional average.
However, committee Chairman Ken Miller, R-Edmond, said it is last in the region in funding per lane-mile of highway.
Commissioner Terri White of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services said a $40 million cut to her agency could increase the usual 600-900 person waiting list for residential substance abuse treatment services to several thousand.
White said Oklahoma ranks 46th in per capita spending on mental health.
“When we talk of cuts of $40 million, it gets very scary,” she said.
White said her department budget was cut $6.9 million last year and has been reduced by $1.6 million over the last two months as state revenue has dropped.
“We’re getting close to the end of our rope,” she said.
White outlined the possible effects of alternatives for taking $40 million out of the DMHSAS budget.
She said reducing items such as drug courts and effective, new-generation drugs would ultimately lead to more people in prison as well as increases in youth suicides and school dropouts. White said up to half of mentally ill youths do not graduate.
White said that drug court costs $5,000 per year, compared to $20,000 for a prison bed.
Eliminating the expensive mental health hospital system would affect the fewest people, White said. However, she stressed that those are the most critically ill patients in the system, people in crisis who need acute care.
White said reducing “front-end” services such as less-expensive community programs that serve more people would lead to more individuals becoming sicker and requiring hospitalization.
“These are the kinds of things that keep me awake at night,” she said.
Neville Massey, executive assistant to the director of the Department of Corrections, said her agency would have little flexibility in handling a $101.7 million reduction in its $503 million budget.
She said one alternative would be to reduce the prison population by releasing inmates. But Massey said such a sizable cut would require the release of many prisoners from security levels that would make the public uncomfortable.
When Miller asked whether this could affect public safety, Massey replied in the affirmative. She also said DOC is staffed at about 76 percent systemwide.
Other alternatives Massey mentioned were targeting the 7,200 offenders in contract beds, or closing nine facilities that now house about 8,400 offenders.
Mike Fogarty, chief operating officer of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, the state Medicaid agency, said a 20-percent cut would cost his agency not only $196 million in state funds, but also $340 million in federal matching funds, for a total of more than $536 million.
Fogarty stresses that those figures are based on current numbers. He said the agency will actually need more than $133.5 million in additional funding just to meet federal matching requirements and maintain programs and provider payments.
As an option, Fogarty said that every 1-percent cut in overall provider rates would total $26 million in state and federal funds.
He said that every 1,000 SoonerCare adults eliminated due to changes in eligibility would amount to $6.4 million in state/federal funds; $22.4 million for every 1,000 adults in nursing homes and $2.7 million for every 1,000 children eliminated due to eligibility changes.
As another alternative, Fogarty said the state could look at eliminating certain optional services: adult dental benefits, which cover 4,022 monthly recipients at a total state/federal cost of $19 million; adult behavioral rehabilitation, 9,295 recipients, at $25.4 million; adult durable medical equipment, 31,502 recipients, at $54.9 million; and reducing paid prescriptions from six to three per month, 31,925 recipients, at $16.8 million.
Fogarty told lawmakers that changing eligibility for programs that have received federal stimulus funds is prohibited until Jan. 1, 2011. He also said the demand for many programs increases as the economy slumps.
He told the legislators that several programs administered by his agency also affect programs within DMHSAS, DOC, the Department of Human Services, Office of Juvenile Affairs and other entities.
“These services are critical,” Fogarty said.
Brandon Dutcher, vice president for policy of the Oklahoma Council on Public Affairs, said a review by the think tank determined that Oklahoma actually spends about $10,942 per pupil on common education, not the $7,600 cited by supporters of SQ 744. He said the data used to determine the lower number leave out many costs, such as teacher retirement benefits.
Certified public accountant Steve Anderson said that means some $266 million in teacher retirement funds is not counted. He also said that relying upon average daily membership, rather than average daily attendance, to calculate some funding numbers is like counting “customers who won’t show up.”
“There’s an awful lot of money that flows through the classroom that isn’t counted, too,” Anderson said.
Rick Barcus
Planning and Grants Management Director
Oklahoma Developmental Disabilities Council
2410 NW 23rd, Suite 74, OKC, OK 73107
521-4965
Fax:405-521-4910
rick.barcus@okdhs.org
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Special screening of HBO's "The Alzheimer's Project"
_________________________________________________________________________________
You are cordially invited to be our guest at a private screening of
featuring the Emmy-nominated film
“GRANDPA, DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM? WITH MARIA SHRIVER”
September 28, 2009
6:00 – 7:00 pm
Harkins Theatre in Bricktown
with special guest speaker
Dr. Terry Cline
Oklahoma Commissioner of Health
Reception to follow at Nonna’s
There is no cost to attend, however seating is limited
RSVP to Keili McEwen at (405) 319-0780 or keili.hicks-mcewen@alz.org
Presented by the
Special thanks to the Lynn Health Institute and Home Instead Senior Care
NIH Funding Opportunity
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced the availability of $30 million provided by the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) to support the development of partnerships between academic research centers and community-based organizations. This funding opportunity, developed in collaboration with the Administration on Aging (AoA), supports the development of infrastructure and staff for productive and sustainable academic-community research partnerships. The goal is to accelerate the pace, productivity, dissemination, and implementation of research translation in community-based settings by strengthening and transforming relationships between academic centers and community organizations. Academic research centers must take the lead in applying for these grant funds, but they are required to have a full collaboration with community-based organization(s). This grant announcement gives special attention to projects that involve partnerships with HHS funded networks, including the AoA supported Aging Services Network. NIH anticipates awarding 30 or more grants with a funding maximum of $1 million per applicant. Letters of intent are due November 12, 2009 and the application due date is December 11, 2009. For a copy of the grant announcement, go to: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-OD-09-010.html
