On February 16, 2023, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions (HELP) Committee held its first hearing on the health care workforce crisis. The meeting focused on the shortage of doctors and nurses, especially the imprnding retirement of most of the nursing force in the years ahead and the current/recent lack of enrollees in nursing schools. Only one brief mention was made of the crisis in the workforce of Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) that has been shutting down care services systems for people with I/DD and autism.
On March 20, 2023, VOR submitted comments to the Senate HELP Committee, asking them to expand the scope of their investigations to include this essential workforce and take action to this critical shortage of caregivers.
Please download (and share) VOR's comments here
New requirements in the Home and Community Based Services Settings Rule are sceduled to be fully implemented by March 17, 2023. For more information on the regulatory changes and the rights of HCBS Waiver participants and their families, please download the CMS HCBS Settings Rule document from CMS here.
VOR's Dawn Kovakovich submitted testimony to Minnesota' House Human Services Finance Committee in opposition to provisions in HF2847. Please read her testimony here and download her daughter Laura's letter to the committee here.
VOR has submitted comments to the Administration for Community Living (ACL) on its proposal supporting family caregivers.
On February 22, 2023, VOR's former President Sam Friedman submiitted comments and recommendations to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).
VOR's comments are available here
The Republican members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee submitted a policy statement recently and asked for the public to submit comments. VOR found several points of agreement, and several policies that we believe should be expanded to ensure that they cover the needs of the entire community of people with I/DD, not only those who receive waiver services or participate in competitive integrated employment.
To view the E&C Republicans' policy statement,
click here.To view VOR's comments, please
click here.
To view our supplementary materials, click on the links below.
