The Catalyst

Senior Services News
Tuesday, February 9, 2021

Announcement

As Lutheran Services in America continues to update its COVID-19 Vaccine Resource Hub, we are asking members to share strategies to increase access and reduce barriers for older adults to receive the COVID-19 Vaccine. Please submit your organization’s programs or strategies to awashington@lutheranservices.org

Upcoming Strength & Service Series Webinar

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Crisis Fatigue in the Workforce: A Conversation with Dr. Christine Cauffield

Date: Wednesday February 10, 2021
Time: 2:00-2:45pm EST 

People living in the U.S. are grappling with long-term attacks to their psyche. Just in the last year, we have witnessed race-based violence, a global pandemic, mass unemployment, and political and social unrest. What are some of the ways leaders, themselves exhausted, can best support employees suffering from crisis fatigue? Join us for a webinar with Chief Executive Officer of LSF Health Systems, Dr. Christine Cauffield – who has worked with leaders in police, healthcare, child welfare and others to address the impact of mental health in their own organizations. Register here.

Reading the Tea Leaves — Fortune-telling an Uncertain Future for Senior Services

Date: Wednesday March 10, 2021
Time: 1:00-2:00pm EST 

The senior services landscape is rapidly shifting. Changes to federal and state funding and regulations, priorities for health insurance companies, new clinical care needs, low skilled nursing occupancy rates, and preferences for home care are just some of the forces causing providers to rethink their overall structure and delivery models. Join us as Andy Edeburn, Principal with Premier, Inc. gives an overview of current market trends and offers methods for thinking about the future. Register here.  

Partner Spotlight

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Ziegler Presents LIBOR IS ENDING: What You Need To Know

Date: Thursday February 25, 2021
Time: 12:00-1:00 pm EST

Join Ziegler’s Amy Castleberry and Scott Determan on an upcoming webinar focusing on the end of LIBOR. LIBOR is frequently called the world’s most important number, but – sooner or later – it will be going away. Municipal bond issuers and borrowers, together with underwriters, municipal advisors, bond attorneys and other bond professionals, will have to prepare now to meet the challenges arising from the transition from LIBOR to other benchmark interest rates for their bonds, swaps, loans or leases. This program will benefit municipal bond issuers with outstanding LIBOR loans and swaps, 501c3 organizations such as hospitals, healthcare centers, universities, CCRC’s, charter schools, independent schools, Underwriters and Municipal Advisors. CE credits may also be available.

News

Resources

Webinars

Advocacy Update

President Biden Continues to Issue Executive Orders and Directives as he Works to Address the COVID-19 Pandemic and lay out his Health Agenda

President Biden yesterday signed an executive order to provide a special enrollment period for health coverage of February 15 to May 15 under the Affordable Care Act, aimed at helping people who have lost employment due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He also issued a directive for HHS to reexamine a policy that allows states to impose work requirements as a condition of Medicaid enrollment for low-income people. These join his initial directives for federal agencies to use wartime powers to require U.S. companies to make masks and other Personal Protective Equipment, requiring the wearing of masks on federal property, a call to state and local officials to encourage mask wearing and social distancing, and naming a national COVID-19 response coordinator.

Meanwhile, the president's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package outlined two weeks ago, the American Rescue Plan, has begun to meet some resistance particularly in the Senate. There appears to be consensus around increased coronavirus vaccination funding but not on $1,400 stimulus payments. Other provisions of the plan include extending and enhancing the unemployment benefit to $400 per week, raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour, $350 billion in state and local government relief, $15 billion for new grants for small employers separate from the Paycheck Protection Program, $175 billion provided for small business loans and investment, and 100% FMAP for states for the administration of coronavirus vaccines for Medicaid enrollees.  Democrats now aim to pass at least some parts of the plan under a special procedure known as “budget reconciliation.” This would allow the legislation to pass by a simple majority vote, meaning they would not need to secure any Republican votes for the bill.

As Congress begins to consider the Biden plan, we at Lutheran Services in America will continue our aggressive call for additional Congressional legislation to support our members’ business and continuity and will update you on our advocacy and how you can take action.

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The purpose of this digest is to provide current news and resources to Lutheran Senior Services organizations. The Catalyst is disseminated every other week and includes relevant reports, educational opportunities, policy updates and other announcements. To add colleagues to the distribution list or to unsubscribe from the Catalyst, send an email to awashington@lutheranservices.org.