Letters Letter to House Ways and Means Committee on Protecting Rural Seniors’ Access to Care Act

February 29, 2024

Lutheran Services in America, in partnership with the American Health Care Association (AHCA) and 33 of our member organizations across 16 states, addressed a letter to the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee to spur action on the Protecting Rural Seniors’ Access to Care Act (S.3410/H.R. 5796). The bill, which Lutheran Services in America has endorsed, will prohibit the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from finalizing the proposed one-size-fits-all, unfunded skilled nursing facility minimum staffing rule that was released for comment last year by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Letters Letter to Department of Labor and Office of Management and Budget Urging Alignment on Overtime Rules and Nonprofit Federal Grant Payment Amounts

October 31, 2023

Lutheran Services in America joined with other nonprofit groups to ask OMB to insert language in the final rule they are drafting governing nonprofit federal grants to ensure award amounts keep pace with increased staffing costs related to a DOL proposed rule which would broaden the group of employees eligible for overtime pay.

Letters Letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken Urging the Correction of Visa Retrogression Issue for International Nurses to Benefit LTC Workforce

October 31, 2023

Lutheran Services in America joined with other organizations working in skilled nursing and longterm care to ask the State Department to end the freeze on EB-3 visas and bring the dates current for application review.

Letters Letter to Chair Bernie Sanders and Ranking Member Bill Cassidy, Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee

August 28, 2023

Lutheran Services in America responded to the Committee’s request for Information on the drivers of health care workforce shortages and ideas for potential solutions.

Letters Letter to House and Senate Appropriations Leaders urging them to support greater funding for affordable senior housing

August 28, 2023

Lutheran Services in America joined other national organizations to urge Congress to support robust funding to meet the affordable housing needs of older adults in Fiscal Year 2024.

Letters Letter to Ur M. Jaddou, Director, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services about Fee Schedule and Changes to Certain Other Immigration Benefit Request Requirements

August 28, 2023

Lutheran Services in America joined other partners to send USCIS a letter urging them to consider operational methods to save costs rather than increasing costs for the same level of service and more alternatives to reduce the need for applicants to contact USCIS.

Letters - DisabilityLetters Letter to President Biden commending his support for home and community-based services in the State of the Union Address.

March 22, 2022

Lutheran Services in America-Disability Network joined a coalition of disability and aging organizations to thank President Biden for highlighting the need to expand home and community-based services in the State of the Union Address and call on policymakers to provide long-term funding to expand services.

Letters - DisabilityLetters Letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra and CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure

March 17, 2022

Lutheran Services in America-Disability Network joined a coalition of disability and aging organizations to urge the Administration to provide at least 120 days advance notice when it intends to lift the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE).

Letters Letters to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator on the Agency’s New SNF Initiative

March 3, 2022

Letters to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator on the Agency’s New SNF Initiative
Lutheran Services in America CEO Charlotte Haberaecker sent a letter to Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure.  In it, she expressed our concerns that the proposals regarding minimum staffing requirements and punitive enforcement for SNFs will exacerbate the current crisis our members face and lead to additional nursing home closures and fewer older Americans being able to access the care they need, and asking that as CMS embarks on this work that the views and experiences of our network be included in the research study being planned in the coming year that will inform the proposed rules around minimum staffing.

Letters Letter to White House staff requesting assistance with anticompetitive practices in direct care staffing agencies

January 22, 2022

Lutheran Services in America joined with other national nonprofits to urge the White House to help address direct care temporary staffing agencies charging supercompetitive prices during the public health emergency.