· Topic
Policy
50 briefs
Pennsylvania Begins Proactive Home-Care Wage Reviews
Workers do not need to file a complaint before the initiative investigates.
PolicyWorkforceDisabilityGeneral
Senate committee advances child-care tax outreach bill
The proposal would create an IRS liaison to help employers use existing child-care tax incentives, but it still needs Senate action before it can take effect.
PolicyBusinessChild Care
Maryland opens FAMLI registration before benefits begin
Maryland employers can now register for FAMLI, while payroll withholding starts in January 2027 and paid leave becomes available in January 2028.
PolicyWorkforceGeneral
West Virginia child-care law remains partly unimplemented
West Virginia DoHS has implemented one billing change, while the bulk of an enacted child-care law remains delayed after a July 1 deadline.
PolicyWorkforceChild Care
California home-care funds pause as nursing-home staffing stays short
The Trump administration has paused $1.7 billion for California’s In-Home Supportive Services while new federal staffing data show broad nursing-home shortfalls.
PolicyWorkforceDisabilityElder Care
Medicaid's 2027 rules create a coverage test for parents
Federal work reporting requirements will apply to expanded-Medicaid states. The new rule clarifies why many parents and caretaker relatives should not lose coverage.
PolicyChild CareGeneral
Home care pay gains face Medicaid funding pressure
Some states have raised pay for home caregivers, but the source reports that Medicaid cuts taking effect in 2027 could erase those gains.
PolicyWorkforceElder Care
Ohio Bill Would Put Caregiving Costs Into the Tax Code
An advocacy group is urging Ohio lawmakers to advance a proposed tax credit for family caregiving expenses.
PolicyElder Care
California Families Face a Health Net Assisted-Living Transition
Health Net announced cuts to assisted-living benefits in California for low-income seniors.
PolicyElder Care
A California assisted-living benefit is set to end
Health Net says members can keep care through their authorization periods, but the benefit is due to end Dec. 31.
PolicyElder Care
Nebraska's caregiver tax credit has limits
The credit can offset part of qualified care expenses, but it is non-refundable and requires caregivers to meet eligibility rules.
PolicyGeneral
California families face a coverage deadline for assisted living
Health Net plans to end an optional Medi-Cal assisted living benefit at year-end, affecting people whose families may not be able to replace the care at home.
PolicyElder CareDisability
A Medicare Bill Links Home-Care Coverage and Worker Pay
The Medicare At Home Act would define a Part B home-care benefit and a proposed wage floor for home care workers.
PolicyWorkforceElder CareDisability
Minnesota's Nursing-Home Wage Floor Is Set for September
Minnesota's Department of Human Services was months late in filing the necessary paperwork with the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
PolicyWorkforceElder Care
CMS Rules and a New Quality Icon
A final skilled nursing rule changes payment and reporting, while Care Compare will add a high-performing icon for some homes.
PolicyElder Care
A New Care Compare Icon Has Limits
CMS plans to display a high-performing icon on Sept. 30, but providers say it cannot answer every family's service question.
PolicyElder Care
Pennsylvania budget omits home health nurse funding increase
Low Medicaid reimbursement is one barrier to finding skilled home care, Pennsylvania's home-care industry says.
PolicyWorkforceDisabilityGeneral
Medicaid work rules still need state action
New federal guidance leaves state systems and notices to tell parents and caretaker relatives what protections they can use.
PolicyGeneral
Arkansas seeks a shorter Medicaid waiver extension
CMS told Arkansas its five-year Medicaid expansion waiver request would not be granted.
PolicyGeneral
Maine prepares a waiver for the adult-services handoff
The proposed Lifespan waiver would begin at age 14 and keep people on one waiver through life changes.
PolicyWorkforceDisability
Medicaid Doula Coverage Outruns Participation in Northern Virginia
Doulas are covered in 26 states and Washington, D.C.; a June registry review found just 19 Northern Virginia doulas accepting Medicaid.
PolicyGeneral
Massachusetts Wage Proposal Links Worker Pay to Child-Care Access
Jeff Liebman estimates a $6 per hour wage increase would raise formal child-care enrollment from 53 percent to 65 percent in five years; the state would cover the cost.
ResearchWorkforcePolicyChild Care
Texas Cuts Approximately 14,000 Child-Care Scholarship Seats
The Texas Workforce Commission voted to cut 9.5% of the state's child care scholarships, approximately 14,000 seats for children.
PolicyChild Care
HHS Projects Head Start Slot Gains From Proposed Rule
HHS says lower administrative costs could preserve or expand as many as 236,000 Head Start slots nationwide; the evidence reports a proposal, not measured gains.
PolicyChild Care
When a family caregiver is a child
An estimated four million children care for adult family members, while the Government Accountability Office says little is known about them.
PolicyGeneral
Seven Caregiver Layoffs as Massachusetts Sets Home-Care Rules
A federal immigration policy shift left seven Haitian caregivers ineligible to work at a New York nursing home as Massachusetts enacted a home-care licensure framework.
PolicyWorkforceElder Care
Massachusetts Enacts a Home-Care Licensure Law
The law directs EOHHS to create standards for non-medical home care, from background checks to a public agency list.
PolicyElder Care
Child care pay gap widens despite policy changes
Brookings reports the earnings gap between child care workers and women overall widened from roughly $20,000 to $28,000 a year, adjusted for inflation.
WorkforcePolicyChild Care
Pennsylvania Raises Child Care Bonuses; Medicaid Covers Over 26 Percent
Pennsylvania's larger recruitment and retention payments arrive as updated Georgetown data show Medicaid covered over 26 percent of child care workers in 2024.
PolicyWorkforceChild Care
Medicaid Coverage Still Supports Child Care Workers
A Georgetown update says Medicaid covered over 26 percent of child care workers in 2024 and identifies insurance gaps.
PolicyWorkforceChild Care
A DOJ Opinion Raises Questions About Support at Home
The opinion does not change existing law, but advocates worry about federal enforcement as Arkansas families face separate coverage and waitlist questions.
PolicyDisability
Arkansas Family Faces a Waiver Wait for a Ceiling Lift
A family says a move made its ceiling track ineligible for coverage, pointing it to a waiver with a long waitlist.
PolicyDisability
Sweetwater Settlement Puts Staffing Under a New Monitor
The Dissent reports that a $15 million California settlement puts a three-year monitor over Sweetwater's staffing.
PolicyElder Care
California settlement targets staffing at 17 skilled nursing facilities
Sweetwater is a licensed skilled nursing facility chain that violated state staffing requirement laws.
PolicyWorkforceElder Care
Massachusetts shows the enforcement gap in care rules
Massachusetts staffing floors, Britain's pay agreement and South Korea's insurance plan put the U.S. focus on whether formal rules reach workers, residents and families.
PolicyWorkforceElder Care
Britain dates a social-care pay agreement for April 2028
The Fair Pay Agreement for social care staff will come into effect in April 2028.
PolicyWorkforceElder Care
South Korea maps insurance coverage for hospital caregiving
Officials plan to finalize implementation this year and begin with severe patients in the first half of next year.
PolicyWorkforceElder Care
Tax benefits proposed for childcare workers
Lauren Shores Pelikan proposes tax benefits for childcare workers, saying the approach could help attract and retain the workforce needed to expand access to care.
PolicyWorkforceChild Care
In four New Brunswick communities, long-term care facilities extended services beyond their walls
The Nursing Home Without Walls concept was tested in four communities in the Canadian province of New Brunswick.
ResearchPolicyElder Care
Study finds a higher care-gap share in China's care insurance pilots
Zheng and Chen report adoption associated with a higher severe care-gap proxy by 2020 (ATT 0.023), with larger estimates where policy texts omitted in-kind home and community services.
ResearchPolicyElder CareDisability
Joan Costa-Font of LSE calls integration of health and long-term care systems inevitable
Joan Costa-Font of the London School of Economics argues that the integration of health and long-term care systems is inevitable.
PolicyResearchElder CareGeneral
Commonwealth Fund: Medicare home health use declines despite aging population
Paired July 9 issue briefs trace declining use to misaligned payment incentives, Medicare Advantage practices, and workforce shortages — and find many beneficiaries don't understand the benefit.
PolicyResearchElder Care
Justice Department memo tests Florida case over children in nursing homes
A June 18 Justice Department opinion challenges the ADA's integration mandate; its first test is the federal case over medically fragile children placed in Florida nursing homes.
PolicyDisabilityChild Care
North Carolina bill would set $18-to-$24 wage floors for direct-care workers
House Bill 1045 would set occupation-specific minimums from $18 an hour for home care aides to $24 for licensed practical nurses, starting January 2028 if approved.
PolicyWorkforceElder CareDisabilityMental Health
Kentucky families rally as 4% Medicaid waiver cut nears its Aug. 1 start
About 100 families, caregivers and providers rallied in Frankfort against a 4% Medicaid waiver reimbursement cut set for Aug. 1, as nearly 19,000 Kentuckians wait for waiver slots.
PolicyDisabilityElder Care
HHS watchdog opens review of Medicare hospice payments in nursing homes
A new HHS Inspector General review will estimate savings from reducing the hospice routine home care rate, which covers personal care that nursing homes are already required to provide.
PolicyElder Care
Judge orders Oklahoma Medicaid to restore Mirabelle Care's payments
A judge ordered Oklahoma's Medicaid agency to resume Mirabelle Care's SoonerCare payments and lift its November fraud suspension, the company says. The underlying investigation remains active.
PolicyBusinessDisabilityMental Health
Georgetown: CMS work-reporting rule is harsher than the statute
The interim final rule narrows the medical frailty exemption and leaves key definitions to states, so identical circumstances may be judged differently by state.
PolicyDisabilityGeneral
DHS finalizes public charge rule effective Sept. 18
The rule drops the 2022 seven-factor test for a totality-of-circumstances review that weighs receipt of means-tested benefits against an immigrant's legal status.
PolicyWorkforceElder CareGeneral
Kentucky cuts Medicaid waiver payments 4% starting Aug. 1
A June 8 letter told providers reimbursement drops next month, hitting the home and community-based waivers nearly 19,000 Kentuckians are already waiting on.
PolicyDisabilityElder Care