Brown Budget Plan & Loss of MCO Tax

When Gov. Jerry Brown (D) unveils his fiscal year 2016-2017 budget proposal on Thursday, one of the big unknowns may be answered —- what he plans to do about the pending loss of the MCO tax and the $1.1 billion hole it leaves in the budget.The managed care organization tax is due to expire June 30, 2016. The state imposed a 3.9% tax on revenue generated by health plans through Medi-Cal managed care and received federal matching funds for the MCO tax. The state then reimbursed the MCOs.

'We Have to Be Willing to Change'

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Maureen Brown has recently found herself asking the same question – “Why did you do that?” – when conversing with co-workers.

“All of us have to take ownership of what we do,” said Brown, director of purchasing at Baker Victory Services (BVS) in Lackawanna. “Are we doing the right thing, and for the right reason?”

Brown and 13 other professionals from BVS, Community Services for the Developmentally Disabled (CSDD) in Buffalo and People Inc. in Williamsville are taking a fresh look at service delivery through a different lens: the Lean methodology of decreasing waste.

Court: Workers Providing Care in Own Homes Exempt from FLSA

A nonprofit organization serving people with developmental disabilities didn't have to pay overtime to employees who used their own homes to provide domestic and companionship services to the disabled clients, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled Jan. 5.

Affirming summary judgment for United Cerebral Palsy of Central Arkansas, the court said the employees provided services in a “private home” within the meaning of the Fair Labor Standards Act's companionship exemption regulations that applied when the case arose in 2012. The Labor Department regulations' reference to a private home encompassed both a client's dwelling and the home of a service organization employee who chose to take clients into his or her home, the court said.

Testing Day Reveals Different Story

Briana began the school year reading at “level E,” where a first grader should be in September. By November, she had progressed to “level G.” At the end of the year she reached “level J,” the benchmark for a second grader.Briana achieved a year’s worth of progress for a year’s worth of teaching, and increased her confidence along the way. But her test results told a different story.You see, Briana is not a first grader. She is a third-grade student with a learning disability.

Study: Medical Care Lags for RI Women

In a study examining health disparities among women, researchers using Rhode Island data found that women with disabilities receive less medical care and are more likely to experience adverse birth outcomes than typical women.

The study published in the December issue of Medical Care found that over 10 percent of women with disabilities in Rhode Island had a low birthweight infant, compared with 7 percent among non-disabled women. Meanwhile, over 13 percent of disabled women delivered babies prematurely versus 9 percent of typical women.

NYSARC Sees Rough Year Ahead

Not exactly an uplifting story for the start of 2016, but important nonetheless.

People with developmental disabilities and their families are really worried about the New Year. Leaders at NYSARC, New York State’s largest advocacy and helping agency for disabled people, said they’re facing potential budget cuts and strict, new rules from the state. They also fear caretakers might quit their jobs in search of higher pay.

92-Year-Old Institution Closes in Tenn.

On Nov. 19, the last six residents were moved from Clover Bottom, ending an era of institutionalizing people with low IQs or other intellectual disabilities away from their communities, a practice that in recent years had come with a huge price tag for taxpayers - about half a million dollars per resident per year.

Like many states, Tennessee has moved slowly in the direction of closing its institutions. Clover Bottom was originally scheduled to be closed in 2005.

Its former residents -- many elderly and in poor health -- have been moved into small homes run by the state or by private subcontractors.