ACL Policy Round Up

In this Policy Round Up, we’re bringing you:

Input needed: New “Public Charge” rule

Bottom Line: The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is looking for public input to inform development of a new “public charge” rule. The new rule could bring significant changes to the way immigration decisions are made for many older adults and people with disabilities. The input of both the aging and disability networks and older adults and people with disabilities themselves is crucial, and now -- early in the rulemaking process – is a critical time to weigh in.

You can submit comments via regulations.gov (due October 22, 2021). In addition, DHS will hold two listening sessions to gather input. Register here to participate:

September 14, 2021 at 2:00 pm ET: Listening Session for the General Public
October 5, 2021 at 2:00 pm ET: State, Territorial, Local, and Tribal Benefits Granting Agencies and Nonprofit Organizations Only

Read more.

New SSA Policy: COVID benefits not counted for SSI eligibility

Bottom line: The Social Security Administration (SSA) now considers many types of pandemic-related financial assistance payments, including economic impact payments or “stimulus checks,” to be “disaster assistance.” As such, they will not be included when determining Supplemental Security Income (SSI) eligibility or monthly SSI benefit amounts, and this exclusion applies indefinitely. This means:

SSA will no longer count most types of COVID-19 financial assistance as income and resources when determining eligibility or payment amounts.
The 12-month limitation on the exclusion no longer applies. SSI recipients now will be able to retain their benefits, even if the money from these financial assistance programs is still in their bank accounts after 12 months.
This change is retroactive; any benefits that were previously withheld because COVID-19 financial assistance was counted will be restored (automatically in most cases)

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New CMS Vaccination Guidance for ICFs/IDD

Bottom line: In May, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a final rule requiring vaccination education, access and reporting for the residents and staff of nursing facilities and intermediate care facilities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (ICF/IID). Last week, CMS sent a memo to the agencies in each state that are responsible for inspecting and accrediting ICFs/IID to provide detailed implementation guidelines for the new rule. This guidance provides information about the responsibilities of ICFS/IID under the new rule and may be helpful if as you counsel and educate residents of ICFs/IID, their families and caregivers and advocate for them with facilities..

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Input needed: HCBS Quality Measures

Bottom Line: The National Quality Forum (NQF) is seeking input on 14 quality measures for home- and community-based services (HCBS). These measures are a subset of the National Core Indicators for Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities HCBS Measures.

The measures, and the assessment of them by the NQF’s Patient Experience and Function Standing Committee, can be reviewed in the committee’s draft report. Comments may be submitted through the NQF website (requires registration) until Friday, September 17 at 6:00 PM ET. Any aspect of the report can be commented on including the scope of the measures, the quality of the measure development process, the importance of the measures, their utility in HCBS programs, etc.

Why this is important: Development of standardized measures of quality for HCBS has lagged behind development of similar measures for health care. That has hamstrung efforts to assess and improve the quality (and consistency of quality across states) of the services that make community living possible.

NQF endorsement is an independent validation of a measure of quality. It reflects scientific and evidence-based review, input from consumers and their families, and the perspectives of people throughout the health care and HCBS industries. That’s why input from the aging and disability networks, and of older adults and people with disabilities is so important.

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