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MGH Community News |
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MGH Community News |
| July 2012 | Volume 16 • Issue 7 |
Highlights
Sections
Social Service staff may direct resource questions to the Community Resource Center, Lindsey Streahle, x6-8182. Questions, comments about the newsletter? Contact Ellen Forman, x6-5807. |
Emergency Assistance (EA) Family Shelter Restrictions The Fiscal Year 2013 state budget includes several key restrictions to the Emergency Assistance (EA) family shelter program. As of Monday, July 9, DHCD has implemented a residency requirement by requiring documentation that proves the applicant is a resident of Massachusetts at the time they are applying for emergency assistance. (Note this is different than immigration status. Only one member of a family needs to have some type of legal immigration status to qualify the family for EA.) Other proposed changes depend on legislative review. While the final FY’13 budget requires DHCD to provide shelter to at least all families falling in 4 categories, the line item language provides the Administration with the discretion to provide shelter to additional families as well. Unfortunately, DHCD proposes to only provide shelter to families that fit into their narrow interpretation of the categories. If the proposal goes forward as written EA will be limited to income-eligible families (115% FPL) who are Massachusetts residents and who meet one of the following eligibility criteria:
The partnership with the Department of Children and Families (DCF) will begin after the required 15-day legislative review period and publication of the emergency regulation with the Secretary of State’s Office. DCF will then begin conducting assessments of the applicant’s current housing situation to determine if there is a substantial health and safety risk to children. The remainder of the eligibility changes will be implemented following a 60-day review period by the legislature and publication of the emergency regulations with the Secretary of State’s Office. The beginning date of this review period is July 17, 2012. -Adapted from A Message from Undersecretary Aaron Gornstein on FY13 Program Implementation, http://homesforfamilies.wordpress.com/2012/07/12/letter-to-ea-providers-and-a-message-from-the-undersecretary/and Mass. Coalition for the homeless fact sheet: http://www.mahomeless.org/images/ea_reg_change_fact_sheet_7-24-12.pdf?utm_source=Update+on+proposed+EA+regs%2C+7-26-12&utm_campaign=ea+regs+7-26-12&utm_medium=email More information: http://caperegionalnetwork.wordpress.com/2012/07/20/fact-sheet-on-fy13-family-homelessness-reforms/
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Homelessness Prevention: RAFT Re-Funded and HomeBASE Rental Assistance Shorter Duration Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT) The RAFT homelessness prevention program will be revitalized due to an infusion of funding in the FY 13 state budget (for the fiscal year that began on July 1, 2012). RAFT provides low-income families who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless with up to $4,000 in one-time funding to help them stay in existing housing or move into new housing. In late 2009 the RAFT appropriation was cut, virtually eliminating the program. Last year the RAFT appropriation was $260,000. The new budget allocates $8.76 million. Details will be forthcoming, and new regulations may be needed before families can reap the benefit of these additional funds. What is clear is that the new appropriation requires that 90% of the funds go to households earning less than 30% of area median income and that priority be given to families who qualify for EA and might otherwise become homeless without the assistance . The agencies providing RAFT assistance must also find that those payments will be sufficient to prevent a family from becoming homeless. There is no prohibition on families accessing assistance in consecutive years if necessary. Additionally, any family receiving $4,000 through HomeBASE will not be eligible for assistance through RAFT during the same 12 month period. HomeBASE Rental Assistance Shorter Duration Unfortunately, another provision in the state budget reduces the duration of assistance for those already receiving assistance under HomeBASE’s Rental Assistance component (which was open to new applicants only between August and October 28, 2011). Rental Assistance recipients will only receive that assistance for a maximum of 24 months instead of the 3 years allowed under the original law. -Adapted from information from CHAPA and MassBudget.org: http://www.chapa.org/about-chapa/briefs/housing-briefs-june-28-2012http://www.chapa.org/about-chapa/briefs/housing-briefs-june-28-2012, http://www.massbudget.org/reports/includes/832/infrastructure.pdf and http://www.massbudget.org/reports/includes/832/infrastructure.pdf. FY 13 State Budget Update- Including EBT Reform Governor Deval Patrick signed a $32.5 billion budget into law Sunday afternoon July 8, 2012. In the process he issued a variety of vetoes, amendments and a Supplemental Budget request. Emergency Assistance (EA – Family Shelter) Major eligibility limitations have been proposed. Effective 7/9/12 applicants must prove they are state residents (different than proving immigration status). State officials have proposed limiting eligibility to certain limited categories. Those rules are not yet in effect and may change- see accompanying story Emergency Assistance (EA) Family Shelter Reforms. Governor Patrick filed a supplemental budget request for $15 million more for the Emergency Assistance family shelter and services. If approved, this would bring EA shelter and motel funding up to $111.7 million, still significantly lower than the FY'12 funding level of $137.5 million. For additional family housing assistance budget updates see accompanying story Homelessness Prevention: RAFT Re-Funded and HomeBASE Rental Assistance Shorter Duration. Taunton State Hospital- Some Beds to Remain Open 45 Beds at Taunton State Hospital, a psychiatric hospital with 169 beds, will stay open for now. The Governor vetoed $32.1 million in spending, rejecting the Legislature’s efforts to keep open Taunton State Hospital. Patrick said that there has been a move away from treating the mentally ill in institutionalized settings and that the number of psychiatric beds in the state will not decrease because of the opening of a new, state-of-the-art mental health facility, the Worcester Recovery Center and Hospital. Lawmakers voted to override his veto and keep some of the psychiatric hospital’s beds open. Undocumented Immigrants No Longer Able to Register a Car Applicants will need to prove US legal residency to register a car or trailer in Massachusetts under language included in the state budget. Additionally there will be increased penalties for driving without a license and providing a fake ID. (Under federal law driver’s license applicants are already required to demonstrate legal status.) Governor Patrick accepted the Legislature’s efforts to increase penalties for violations such as driving without a license or providing a fake ID, but he rejected plans to require proof of legal residency for car registration, which he said targeted illegal immigrants and had no clear public safety benefit. Patrick sent the provision back to the legislature with an amendment that required only proof of state residency and allows the Registry of Motor Vehicles to exempt certain groups. Subsequently both the House and Senate rejected the Governor's amendment and re-inserted language in the state budget requiring the Registry of Motor Vehicles to examine "proof of legal residence" when people register their motor vehicles. Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) Card Reform The legislature, through the budget process, had proposed banning public assistance (e.g., TAFDC, SNAP) recipients from using EBT cards to buy alcohol, lottery tickets, tobacco, pornography, jewelry, and tattoos, among other items. They also prohibited liquor stores, casinos, strip clubs, gun shops, manicurists, cruise ships and rent-to-own stores from accepting the cards. The governor went along with some of the restrictions on where people can use welfare benefits. Bars, casinos and spas – among other places – are now off limits. A first offense would result in a $600 fine, a second offense in a $1,200 fine, and a third offense in the loss of benefits. But Patrick submitted an alternate proposal that would still allow the cards to be used at nail salons and jewelry stores and rejected bans on the use of EBT cards for tattoos, guns, porn, body piercings, jewelry, fines and bail. The legislature voted on a measure to reinstate these restrictions. This must be sent back to the governor who would have a chance to veto it and send it back to the Legislature again. So these provisions are pending. Pharmaceutical Company Gift Ban The budget loosened restrictions on the state’s drug firm gift ban, allowing pharmaceutical companies to provide “modest meals” to physicians in venues other than the physician’s office or a hospital (e.g., in a restaurant). For More Information/Adapted from:
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Mass. Transgender Rights Law Goes into EffectAs reported in November (Transgender Equal Rights Now Law in MA, MGH Community News, November 2011), the Massachusetts legislature passed and the Governor signed An Act Relative to Transgender Equal Rights . The new law took effect on Sunday July 1 and provides protections for the transgender community in the areas of employment, education, housing, and credit and amends existing hate crime laws to explicitly protect transgender people targeted for violence and harassment. -See the full Boston Globe article …
Two Previously Announced Immigration Relief Programs Not Yet in Effect The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has recently sent announcements to clarify that two previously announced programs that will offer some immigration relief are NOT yet in effect. Provisional Unlawful Presence Waiver (I-601) On March 30, 2012, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) posted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) outlining its plan to reduce the time U.S. citizens are separated from their immediate relatives (spouses, children, parents) while those family members are in the process of obtaining an immigrant visa to become lawful permanent residents of the United States. Do not send an application requesting a provisional waiver at this time. USCIS cannot accept applications until a final rule is issued and the process change becomes effective. Since the announcement, USCIS has become aware of public misperceptions about the rule-making process and when the provisional unlawful presence waiver process will take effect. USCIS has issued a number of public education materials to combat these misperceptions including flyers in English and Spanish. For more information see Immigration: Administration Announces Improvements to Family Unity Waivers, MGH Community News, January 2012. Deferred Action Process for Young People Who Are Low Enforcement Priorities Update: Applications will be accepted as of 8/15/12. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) alerts eligible individuals NOT to submit a deferred action request under the Deferred Action Process for Young People memorandum issued by Secretary Napolitano on June 15. If you submit now, your application will be rejected. The Secretary’s directive gives USCIS 60 days to create a process to accept these requests and we are unable to accept requests at this time. Please continue to check the website for updates: http://www.uscis.gov USCIS wants you to learn the facts about protecting yourself and your family against scammers by visiting http://www.uscis.gov/avoidscams. For More Information
-Adapted from USCIS Announcements to MIRA members, MIRA Coalition, July 03, 2012. Goddard House SNF in JP to Close; Brookline Assisted Living Unaffected The Goddard House Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Jamaica Plain will close Sept. 8 displacing some 100 residents, the nonprofit’s trustee board disclosed this month. The organization’s facility in Brookline will remain open. That center provides assisted living care in a newer building, but, unlike the site in Jamaica Plain, does not offer licensed skilled nursing care, Brower said. Needed renovations at the 85-year-old building would cost more than $10 million and would require residents to be relocated while the work is done, according to the board. Elizabeth Molodovsky, President Goddard House Board of Trustees, said in a letter that trends in senior care call for single rooms with space for current technology/equipment; Goddard House JP has undersized rooms, communal bathrooms, and inadequate parking for both staff and visitors. The letter explains that “in light of the trend towards home-based care, a surplus of nursing home beds in Massachusetts, the needed investments and the fact that GHJP has been operating at a loss for the past several years, it became clear to us that continued investment in an aging building is not the best us of our charitable resources.” There is also a federal requirement to fully equip the building with sprinklers by August 2013. “We do not make the decision lightly to close Goddard House Jamaica Plain, but we do make it with the firm belief that we can better support Boston’s seniors by investing our resources in services, not updating a facility,” Molodovsky’s statement said. No plans have been made for the future of the Goddard building, officials said. For more information please contact Nancy Shapiro Executive Director of Goddard House in Brookline, at 617-731-8500. -See the full Boston Globe article… Additional materials from the letter from the Board of Trustees dated 7/13/12.
Disaster Distress Hotline- Crisis CounselingThe Disaster Distress Helpline, a program of The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), provides crisis counseling and support that is free, multilingual, and available 24/7. The service is available to U.S. residents who are experiencing psychological distress as a result of natural or man-made disasters, including incidents of mass violence. The Helpline is staffed by trained counselors from a network of crisis call centers located across the United States, all of whom provide:
The Disaster Distress Hotline: 1-800-985-5990Or Online: http://disasterdistress.samhsa.gov/ Download the Disaster Distress Helpline Brochure: http://disasterdistress.samhsa.gov/media/745/ddh_brochure.pdf -Thanks to Karon Konner for sharing this resource. Jeff’s Place- Helping Grieving Children in MetroWest Jeff’s Place offers FREE bimonthly open-ended peer support groups for children ages 3-19 and their caregivers who are coping with the death of a loved one. All groups are facilitated by professionally trained volunteers under the supervision of a master’s prepared clinician. Individual and small groups are held in Framingham. Large groups are held in Wayland. Jeff’s Place originated as a year-round extension of Manitou Experience, a one-week summer camp for boys who have experienced a significant death. More Information: http://www.jeffsplacemetrowest.org/the-program or call 508-276-3225. -Thanks to Ashley Gaughan and Lindsey Streahle for sharing this resource. The Fatherhood Project is a program of the Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Psychiatry. The program developed as a result of the interest and initiative of psychologist Dr. Raymond Levy. In addition to being a father of two children, Dr. Levy is a clinician, teacher, clinical supervisor and researcher. Dr. Levy and his staff have developed initiatives to study fatherhood’s impact on men and their children and to encourage father engagement in resident and non-resident fathers. The Fatherhood Project contributes to the increased role of fathering in children’s lives through four initiatives:
More Information MGH Department of Psychiatry http://www.thefatherhoodproject.org -Thanks to Andra Sobran and the Women’s and Children’s team for sharing this resource.
MassHealth Partial Dental Restoration A partial restoration of MassHealth dental coverage was included in the FY 13 state budget (this fiscal year began on July 1, 2012). This means that more than 700,000 adults who rely on MassHealth and Commonwealth Care Type 1 for their dental coverage will have access to composite fillings for their front teeth only. Additionally the Division of Health Care Finance and Policy will be required to study the increased cost of emergency room treatment for dental problems and to develop a specific code to track ER visits for dental conditions. Advocates pushed for this research to see if a case can be made for the cost-effectiveness of restoring additional dental benefits. -Adapted from: Incremental Restoration of MassHealth Adult Dental Begins! e-mail from Courtney Chelo, Health Care for All, Oral Health Advocacy Task Force, July 09, 2012. Medicare Reminder: Part B Penalty Appeals Those who have been denied enrollment into Medicare Part B or were charged a premium penalty have the right to appeal and, if successful, be immediately or retroactively enrolled and/or have the premium penalty eliminated. This administrative process is called “equitable relief” as it allows people with Medicare to request relief from the Social Security Administration (SSA). To be granted equitable relief you must demonstrate that the reason you did not enroll in Part B when you should have was “unintentional, inadvertent, or erroneous” and was the result of “error, misrepresentation or inaction of a federal employee or any person authorized by the federal government to act in its behalf.” (Another reason to write down the names of and dates/time you spoke with Medicare personnel.) For example, if you did not enroll in Part B because an SSA or Medicare representative told you that you did not need to enroll, you may have grounds for equitable relief. Learn more about how to request equitable relief at www.medicareinteractive.org, or call the Medicare Rights Center helpline at 800-333-4114. -Adapted from Medicare Watch, Volume 3, Issue 26, Medicare Rights Center, July 12, 2012. Integrated Care Organizations- Dual Eligibles Will Be Automatically Enrolled Integrated Care Organizations (ICOs) will be a new health care option for Massachusetts adults, age 21-64, who are eligible for both MassHealth and Medicare (also known as dual eligibles). ICOs will offer a broad range of medical and behavioral health services, as well as long-term services and supports (LTSS) in a single individualized program. This might include personal care attendant services (PCA), Adult Foster Care, Group Adult Foster Care, Adult Day Health as needed (unless in a Medicaid waiver program where these services are already provided). Services that ICOs have the option to also offer include caregiver respite services, peer support and home modifications. By using an integrated managed care system, ICOs aim to provide higher quality care at a lower cost than MassHealth and Medicare provide separately. Dual eligibles who qualify for an ICO will be enrolled automatically, but may opt out and continue to use current MassHealth and Medicare providers on a fee-for-service basis at any time. Enrollment is scheduled to begin in January 2013 for coverage effective April 1. Those enrolled in an Integrated Care Organization, will get all of their covered services from the ICO and its network of providers and authorized community partners. Out of network services will not be covered except in an emergency. -Adapted from July News from MassResources.org, July 13, 2012, http://www.massresources.org/integrated-care-organizations.html (site no longer operational) and http://www.mass.gov/eohhs/docs/eohhs/healthcare-reform/120730-duals-demo-rfr-appendix-d.pdf.
Governor Patrick Signs Bill To Improve Dementia Care Workers who treat dementia patients will receive specialized training, and nursing home and dementia special care units will be subject to minimum care standards under a bill signed by Gov. Deval Patrick on Sunday. The new law will establish regulations to specify minimum safety and quality standards for dementia care units in long-term facilities, including guidelines for the physical design of the units that can allow for dementia-specific activities such as anti-wandering methods and a "therapeutic environment." -Adapted from News from Margolis & Bloom, LLP - July 16, 2012. Archive of previous issues: http://www.margolis.com/resources/newsletters/. See the full text of the bill: http://www.malegislature.gov/Bills/187/House/H03947 Editorial- The Rush to Abandon the PoorThe state with the country’s worst health care record just happens to have a governor who has been the loudest voice against national efforts to improve it. A quarter of the residents of Texas, 6.3 million people, are uninsured, by far the highest percentage in the country. (That number includes more than a million children.) Texas ranks last in prenatal care and finished last on a new federal assessment of overall health quality that examined factors like disease prevention, deaths from illnesses, and cancer treatment. Yet Gov. Rick Perry — strangely puffed up as he was so often in his presidential bid — recently told the Obama administration that he would proudly refuse a huge infusion of Medicaid money that would significantly reduce those shameful statistics and cover 1.7 million more people. The same indifference to suffering that pushed Texas to the bottom is now threatening to keep it there. -See the full opinion piece at NYTimes.com… Opinion- Giving Healthcare to the Poor Lowers Health Costs for Everyone The federal government has long allowed many states to let lapse basic healthcare for the poor, even as states handed out billions in unnecessary corporate tax breaks. Meanwhile, the middle class picks up the cost of providing care to the uninsured through taxes given to hospitals for uncompensated care and higher insurance costs. Under the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama finally attempted to meet the challenge of stopping these hidden middle-class costs. By expanding Medicaid eligibility to 133 percent of the federal poverty level (or $25,390 for a family of three in 2012: two adults each working about 30 hours a week at minimum wage), very low-income people can move into the workforce without fear of losing coverage for their children. Simultaneously, the hidden tax of uninsured care and higher private insurance costs will decline as the population receives more preventive and primary care in place of ultra-costly emergency room treatments. Expansion of Medicaid in Florida is estimated to cost $2.2 billion per year over the next decade, with nearly all of the expense—about $2 billion a year—available from the federal government. However, the middle class and those with private insurance already pick up that cost because it's currently received through high-cost hospital care. -See the full US News & World Report opinion piece… Cited in/linked from HEALTH CARE WEEKLY UPDATE. Barbara Roop & John Goodson, Health Care for Massachusetts, July 27, 2012.
Right Diet Could Help Maintain Weight Loss Diets that limit processed carbohydrates may enable longer-lasting weight loss compared with other diets with the same number of calories, according to a small study published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Those on ultra-low-carbohydrate diets, however, also had higher circulating levels of chemicals associated with biological stress and inflammation, which may indicate that restrictive diets may be hard on the body in the long term. A low-glycemic index diet may be a “happy compromise” burning more calories per day than unrestricted carbohydrates without increasing biochemical indicators of bodily stress. -See the full Boston Globe article…
Chronic Abuse of Prescription Pain Meds Up Sharply The number of Americans who regularly use prescription pain relievers such as oxycodone for nonmedical reasons has shot up since 2002, in parallel with fatal overdoses of these drugs, a new report finds. "Coupled with continued increases in opioid pain reliever morbidity and mortality, these findings underscore the need for concerted public health and public safety action to prevent nonmedical use of these drugs," says the author of the report, Christopher M. Jones, PharmD, MPH, from the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, Georgia. The report was published online June 25 in Archives of Internal Medicine. A November 2011 report from the CDC found that the number of overdose deaths from opioid prescription pain relievers in the United States has reached epidemic proportions and is now greater than fatalities from heroin and cocaine combined. -See the full Medscape article …
Binge Drinking May Increase Risk for Cognitive Decline 2 large studies suggest that binge drinking may increase the risk for cognitive decline in elders. One study found that "those who were binge drinkers were much more likely to experience the greatest level of cognitive decline. Those who reported binge drinking once a month or more had an odds ratio of cognitive decline of about 1.5, and for those who reported binge drinking twice a month or more, the odds ratio was about 2.5," lead investigator Iain A. Lang, PhD, told Medscape Medical News. In the second study, investigators found that moderate alcohol consumption in a cohort of older women did not protect cognitive function and that switching from nondrinking to drinking status in later life significantly increased the risk for cognitive decline. "Women who started drinking [in later life] were 3 times more likely to develop cognitive impairment compared to nondrinkers," study investigator Tina Hoang, MSPH told conference delegates. Challenging Conventional Wisdom "The established wisdom about alcohol use and both cardiovascular health and cognitive health is that there is a J-shaped relationship such that moderate drinking is safe and possibly protective, whereas nondrinking and heavy drinking are both bad for you said Dr. Lang "Starting from this position ignores the pattern of drinking and presumes that people who have 1 drink a day every day are moderate drinkers. But in fact, people drink in all kinds of ways, and previous research hasn't really teased out cognition and whether it makes a difference if you drink 7 drinks in 1 day and none the rest of the week vs 1 drink every day," he said. -See the full Medscape.com article…
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