Thank You.

Ira Yellen, President/CEO

Here is the Governor’s proposed Long-term Health Care Initiative for the Legislature to approve:

REBALANCING THE STATE’S LONG-TERM CARE SYSTEM

“Governor Malloy recognizes the need to move away from past practice of over-reliance on institutional long-term care settings and to create a system that better supports consumers’ informed choice. By further aligning long-term services and supports with consumer choice and control, the state will not only improve the quality of life for Medicaid participants by providing options but will also reduce unnecessary expenses and institutionalization.

Under the Money Follows the Person (MFP) Rebalancing Demonstration, the federal government encourages states to reduce their reliance on institutional care for Medicaid recipients by moving individuals out of institutional settings and into community settings with appropriate supports. But, for the six month period ending December 2010, Connecticut accounted for 30 percent of the closed cases nationally that did not result in transitions to the community because care plan costs exceeded the individual’s institutional costs under MFP. The cost of medication administration is not the only cost driver; but it is one of the primary cost drivers and one of the primary barriers to community placement.

Governor Malloy’s budget includes four initiatives that will reduce the high cost of medication administration by $20.5 million in FY 2013 or $28.6 million when fully annualized: (1) reducing the reimbursement rate for medication administration, (2) permitting nurses at home health agencies to delegate administration of medication to home health aides, (3) allowing agency-based personal care assistants to administer medications in the home, and (4) allowing clients to gain a higher level of independence by utilizing assistive technology such as medication reminders and automatic pill dispensers when it is cost-effective. 18

The Governor’s budget reflects the addition of Adult Family Living under the Connecticut Home Care Program for Elders and the Personal Care Assistance (PCA) waiver, providing a cost-effective alternative to clients in need of 24 hour supervision and assistance with activities of daily living. The budget also reflects the addition of Independent Support Broker to the menu of services available under the PCA waiver. By helping consumers design and direct their own supports, more persons under the age of 65 will have access to long-term services and supports in the community.

Funding of $300,000 has been proposed to create a standardized level of care assessment across long-term services and supports, which will include the development of an automated needs assessment tool, screening tool and care plan budget methodology. Needs assessments will be coordinated with the comprehensive assessments that are federally mandated for all nursing home residents. Greater standardization of long-term care assessments will promote administrative efficiencies and increased equity.

Governor Malloy recognizes the importance of housing in allowing individuals to go back to the community and in keeping individuals in the community in the first place. The Governor’s budget includes $10 million in bond funds for modifications of existing housing. These funds, administered by DECD, will create additional accessible housing, allowing individuals who are institutionalized to return to their family homes or apartments.

In addition, Governor Malloy is recommending expanding the Private Pay Assisted Living Pilot. This program subsidizes the service costs for persons age 65 and older who reside in participating private assisted living communities and who are eligible for the Connecticut Home Care Program for Elders. Currently, the pilot can serve a total of 75 individuals who, after living in a private assisted living facility, have spent down their assets and now require help with their living expenses. The Governor is proposing to increase this pilot from 75 to 125. Also, as discussed under the section regarding housing initiatives, Governor Malloy is making significant investment in congregate housing to promote aging in place and prevent premature institutionalization of the state’s growing elderly population.

*Hospital discharges are also important in keeping individuals out of nursing facilities in the first place. In  Connecticut, approximately half of the persons requiring long-term care after hospital admission are  currently discharged to nursing homes and only a third of Medicaid participants who are discharged to a  nursing home eventually return to the community. Governor Malloy’s budget includes $250,000 to create a  web-based information system. By providing information on the availability of home and community-based  services, this system will facilitate the transition of care from the hospital to the community, promoting  individualized person-centered planning.”

I have been mentoring for many years and this type of event shows how groups of people who many times don’t know each other with come together and collaborate for a product or service that will be judged in a 5 minute presentation.

I would give awards to all of them, but congratulations to PlatForum, Sobrio, and MailStack who tied for 1st Place at the inaugural Startup Weekend Storrs event! Honorable mention when to KidETA for most promising service to the community, and Life Raver for best name. There were very interesting ideas presented, along with the potential of new businesses being formed. Hopefully, some will be seen by you all over the next few years.

Top Winners:

platforum – A mobile app to consolidate the forum experience
Sobrio – A mobile match service linking drinkers and sober drivers
Mailstack – A new way to organize your email inbox

Honorable Mention:

KidETA – A school bus location service using mobile crowdsourcing (for most promising service to the community)
Life Raver – A website to help visitors to a city find the fun things that locals do (for best name)

Other Participants:

• Eldercare Compare
• Busses2
• CloudSort
• GrowPix
• Sitterverse
• LiveIt!
• Joy In A Glass

Interview from the White House

Back in November, for the latest installment of the White House’s Advise the Advisor series, Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Nancy-Ann DeParle asked Americans for their ideas for executive actions or steps that President Obama could take, without waiting for Congress to act, to help out middle class families and small business and put Americans back to work.

We should celebrate the homecare professionals who tend to our loved ones day in and out.  The care given by nurses, therapists and homes care aides has helped families by dedicating their life on behalf of the aged, disabled, and ill loved ones.  Take a moment and send them a thank you note. Look towards your United Way and other  non profit groups who serve community needs, and many times, you will find a health professional. If you are a caregiver the National Council on Aging has information and resources to help you manage your caregiving needs.

Many of our clients are just beginning to feel a sense of ownership of their online identity. Technology regimes no longer control their messaging and their leadership teams are discovering how easy it is to publish web content, either through a well-developed site they control or through one of the many free services, like Facebook and Twitter, that enable you to publish just about anything related to your brand.

So, now that Google, the benevolent giant, has built this entirely new communication ecosystem, called Google+, what’s a company to do? Well, here are a few questions to get you started.

Are things like “relationships” and “identity” important to your business? If they are, then you might consider trying Google+.

What differentiates Google+ from every other form of web communication (e.g. your web site) is identity. Google has built a system that makes it really difficult to do anything anonymously. As a result, companies and individuals who communicate through Google+ behave more closely to the way they would if they were interacting face-to-face. In fact, a key feature of the service is “Hangout”, a video chatting service through which you can talk to your customers or your team or anyone. If you need that kind of interaction and customers can’t get to your physical location, this is a huge benefit.

Are you uncomfortable with a large corporation owning the content you’ve worked hard to create? If you are, think twice.

Even without reading the Google+ Terms of Service, you should be aware that you’re building part of your company on property that someone else owns. Mostly, Google has been generous with creating tools like this. They haven’t slammed users with ads or sold their data to advertisers. But, it’s a decision you need to make. If you were to build (or buy) and maintain a similar set of communication tools for yourself, it would cost you a minimum of $30,000 and countless hours educating your community on using your tools. And, in the end you wouldn’t have the common interface that all individual users already have.

Experiment

The price of admission for Google+ is free, though you’ll have to spend a few hours learning the features. But, didn’t you do that with your company intranet? And with email? Even if Google+ isn’t the end-all-be-all in Internet communication, I think there’s a good chance that it marks a lasting trend of transparent communication between people and organizations.

Any Connecticut company looking for a way to experiment with Google+ is welcome to join us at our Google+ page (link here). We’ll help you test out your ideas without any fear of judgement.

Nurses, home health aides, homemaker companions, and caregivers should all be given a badge of honor. If you know one or meet one, thank them for their unselfish deeds during challenging times. Please go the CT Mirror to read more about what many of them did.

I formed my business in 1983 and a short time later I had the fortune to meet an Apple rep who offered me to do beta testing on a new computer call a Macintosh along with the software — MacWrite, MacPaint, and MacDraw. The early Macs had very little memory, but I saw the potential of creating documents such as brochures, newsletters, and ads. The aha! moment came when Apple created a Mac with a hard drive with 1 megabyte of memory. It was then that I was able to create a public relations and marketing business around the Macintosh computer. I was able to create brochures, newsletters, and all types of collateral without using typesetting and traditional comps for clients and printers. I was able to create an integrated copy, graphic, and layout using a new desktop system called Pagemaker. It was also beta software. I was able to create documents in half the time and cost. Soon, dozens of clients were coming to me to do their collateral. Basically, I was first on the block to see the tremendous potential of these new technical tools.

It was interesting that printers, typesetters and other design firms did not jump into the fray, but I also realized that pretty soon I would have competition in the desktop world. From this opportunity I was able to capitalize my business, hire staff, and move into a real office in Glastonbury, CT. Of course, I have a come a long way since those time, but have always appreciated and used the devices Steve Jobs has created. I tip my hat and honor the contribution he has made to the creative field I am in and for the many others who have created businesses around Apple products. My only regret is when was almost sold to Sun for a few dollars a share in 1995. I had a chance right to purchase Apple shares at $4 each when Jobs was coming back to lead Apple again. I should have bite into the apple, but I have no regrets today. I also had the pleasure of meeting him in the 1980s when their was a annual Mac conference in Boston.

Being an evangelist takes faith in yourself, the people around you, and living day-to-day the best you can for yourself and fellow mankind.

Thank you Steve Jobs for giving us the means to an end.

The original 26 year old Mac on display in my office.