Stavros
Advocates for Independent Living
Hot Issues
Stavros wants you to be informed and active in the issues that are important to you. As people with disabilities, we need to pay attention to what's going on in our communities, state and nation AND make sure we are heard.
When you hear about legislation or an issue that is important to you or your family, call your legislators! Your call or letter to your elected legislators really does make a difference! Please use the following links for State Legislators in western Massachusetts, or for all MA state legislators. Use the following links for info on members of US Congress representing Massachusetts, or find info for ALL federal legislators here.
Action Alerts
One of the best ways to keep informed is to join a listserve. Sign up for three of the best: "Steve Gold's Nuggets" deals with national disability issues and policy trends; the Disability Policy Consortium's (DPC) "First Advocate" action alert list which focuses on state activities. Or sign up for Families USA, a national nonprofit, non-partisan organization dedicated to the achievement of high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans. In addition, we will do our best to keep you updated right here.
Western Massachusetts Hospital Access Project
People with disabilities are denied effective medical care when hospitals, clinics and doctor's offices are not fully accessible. This includes physical access, communication access, and equipment access. Stavros staff and consumers have been aware of barriers to health care access for a long time--and the Massachusetts Disability Law Center has heard our voices! They are launching a new project to help improve access to medical care in western Massachusetts for people with disabilities. Please give them a call if you have had recent problems at a local hospital.
Restore the ADA
In response to the dramatic narrowing of the ADA in the courts, ADA Watch is hosting a petition to encourage Congress and the President to pass and sign a bipartisan "ADA Restoration Act" that would restore vital civil right protections for children and adults with physical, mental, cognitive and developmental disabilities. This legislation is being promoted by a year-long bus tour, the Road to Freedom tour throughout the U.S.
Road to Freedom Tour
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The Road to Freedom tour stopped at our Amherst office on October 17, 2007. Stay informed by email with periodic news and alerts about the ADA and the Road To Freedom by signing up for ADA Watch news and alerts. |
To report receipt of this email message or other suspicious activity to Social ecurity's Office of Inspector General, please call the OIG Hotline at 1-800-269-0271. (If you are deaf or hard of hearing, call the OIG TTY number at 1-866-501-2101). A Public Fraud Reporting form is also available online at OIG's website www.socialsecurity.gov/oig.
ADAPT's Access Across America Proposal
ADAPT has a plan to help create more affordable and accessible housing for folks transistioning from nursing homes and other institutions. Click here for more details on Access Across America.
MassHealth Changes/Dentsits
Mass Health Dentists
Updated 12/3/07
Nursing Homes Quality Report
Story from the Medicare Rights Center newsletter: Despite legislation designed to improve living conditions for nursing home residents, bad care continues to be a problem, according to a recent Consumer Reports analysis of state inspections of 16,000 facilities nationwide. The report, published by Consumers Union, a nonprofit, independent consumer advocacy group, examined the three most recent state inspection reports for each nursing home and compared staffing levels and quality indicators reported to Medicare. Quality indicators, for example, include the rates of residents developing pressure sores that are likely preventable with proper care. Look at Consumer's Reports here for the Massachusetts report (scroll to bottom of page to see map and select MA), or here for the rest of the story. Four of the lowest ranked nursing homes are in our service area-Hampshire, Hampden and Franklin counties.
Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics and
Click here to read an article about research that finds actual costs of implementing MICASSA legislation nationwide is far below the amount named in a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) study. MICASSA is prospective federal legislation that would help low-income people with disabilities purchase personal assistance services so that they can avoid an institutional placement and stay in the community. The CBO claims that the cost would be $10 to $20 billion dollars. A study by School of Nursing researchers from the University of California, San Francisco found the CBO study flawed; they estimate true costs to be between $1.2 to $3.2 billion dollars. For more information about MICASSA, click here.
Public Bidding Requirements on Durable Medical Equipment
Exempt Complex Rehab from National Competitive Bidding Medicare Legislative
As of July 1 a new bill is scheduled to be implemented by Medicare that would require complex rehab equipment ( like the custom manual and power wheelchairs our patients use) go out for competitve bid. This would mean that we would have to use the lowest bidder for all our wheelchair orders.
This actually eliminates the choice of our patients and ourselves as to who we can go through for vendors. So a small vendor with no rehab experience could be the provider for our patients equipment.
This would be very bad for all our patients and would make it much harder for us to ensure that they get the quality that they need and deserve. There is no requirement for the company that wins the bid to provide any service or maintaince on the product they provide. So they could simply drop it off and be done.
Go to our DME Advocacy! page to see how you can help.
News Stories of Interest
Click here for articles we think may be of interest to our community.