Commonwealth Fund Showcases LSA Senior Connect
January 10, 2020
January 10, 2020
January 30, 2020
The Aging and Disability Business Institute and National Council on Aging announced the selection of Lutheran Services in America and 10 other community-based organizations (CBOs) and networks to participate in the 2020 Medicare Advantage Learning Collaborative. Participants selected:
Over the next six months, these participants will be engaged in a curriculum focused on building the knowledge and skills needed to successfully pursue contracts with Medicare Advantage (MA) plans for home and community-based services. Supported by targeted technical assistance, a peer learning network and a platform to share learnings, participants will come away from the learning collaborative with increased knowledge of MA plans, a broader understanding of MA plans’ quality and performance drivers, knowledge of promising practices for MA plan contracting and a customized value proposition.
January 31, 2020
Next Avenue featured the Great Plains Senior Services Collaborative in an article examining how integrating social services into health care improves outcomes and prevents hospital admissions. Next Avenue cites a recent report that found the incorporation of care that tackles issues like housing, food and reliable transportation is critical to improving prevention and treating acute and chronic illness. The Collaborative addresses additional challenges related to social determinants of health that rural seniors face such as access to transportation and health care services, isolation and loneliness, and food security.
March 25, 2020
Statement from Charlotte Haberaecker,
President and CEO of Lutheran Services in America
in response to today’s Senate passage of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief,
and Economic Security Act (H.R. 748)
March 25, 2020
“While we are eager to fully review the entire legislation just passed, the U.S. Senate did the right thing in today’s vote on the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act when they ensured that many nonprofits receiving Medicaid funding will be eligible for SBA loans with loan forgiveness to support their work helping so many people in need during this pandemic. This is a crucial part of this third Congressional relief package, given how many nonprofits like our 300 health and human services organizations are on the frontlines fighting COVID-19. These dedicated Lutheran social ministry organizations are working around the clock caring for one in 50 Americans in need, in over 1,400 communities in 46 states across the country – a charge made all the more difficult given the ongoing pandemic dramatically affecting the people our organizations care for.
“Additional funding resources will be absolutely critical in the months to come. This is particularly vital when considering many of our Lutheran social ministry organizations are helping people affected by the pandemic while in crisis mode; they are lacking personal protective equipment, incurring additional expenses, and struggling with limited cash reserves and already-tight margins.
“We are eager to learn the outcome of the upcoming, related coronavirus relief package vote in the House, and ask that in future legislation lawmakers ensure that nonprofits with over 500 employees who currently are not eligible for SBA zero-interest loans and other funds also are provided with speedy alternative funding sources. We are seeing firsthand how people’s lives throughout America are depending on needed measures like these during this difficult time.”
For further information or additional comment from Charlotte Haberaecker, contact Jen Beltz at (202) 499-5846.
About Lutheran Services in America
Lutheran Services in America is the national network of Lutheran social ministry organizations — connecting over 300 health and human services nonprofit service providers located throughout the country. Recognized by The Chronicle of Philanthropy and Forbes as one of the nation’s largest nonprofits, the Lutheran Services in America network operates with more than $22 billion in annual revenue and over 250,000 member employees. Together, the network lifts up the nation’s most vulnerable people from children to seniors — making a difference in the lives of one in 50 Americans every year. To learn more, please visit www.lutheranservices.org.
April 9, 2020
Lutheran Services in America President and CEO Charlotte Haberaecker
June 4, 2020
Our conviction that diversity is our strength, unity our biggest hope, and equity for all people throughout America must be demanded and achieved has never been more true — nor more deeply felt — than over this past week. George Floyd’s senseless death, like the countless people before him struck down by systemic racism, must be more than yet another wake-up call.
Damyn Kelly, President and CEO of Lutheran Social Services of New York, is correct when he emphasizes the obligation we all have to “not only act in ways that enhance quality of life for those we serve, but also to speak out against injustice when we see or experience it… We must continue to explore our personal biases against those who are different.”
As a faith-based community, we honor, respect and heed the voices in America crying out in pain, frustration and anger. In lifting high and responding to those voices, we not only have the collective opportunity to fix as a nation what has been so wrong for so long, but the imperative to do so. Doing so will require not only listening carefully and personal commitments to battle inequity and racism at every turn, but creating related policy improvements that so directly impact communities nationwide.
As people of faith, we pray and speak for hope, healing, justice and peace. As Lutheran social ministry, God’s grace and care for our neighbor — central tenets of our heritage — inform our commitment to dismantling inequity. Acting to build a stronger future — one that is fair, just and will deliver meaningful change for us all — will make our communities and nation immeasurably stronger.
About Lutheran Services in America
Lutheran Services in America is the national network of Lutheran social ministry organizations — connecting over 300 nonprofit health and human service providers located throughout the country. Recognized by The Chronicle of Philanthropy and Forbes as one of the nation’s largest nonprofits, the Lutheran Services in America network operates with more than $22 billion in annual revenue and over 250,000 member employees. Together, the network lifts up the nation’s most vulnerable people from children to seniors — making a difference in the lives of one in 50 Americans every year. To learn more, please visit www.lutheranservices.org.
June 9, 2020
From Charlotte Haberaecker, President and CEO of Lutheran Services in America
On behalf of the one in 50 Americans who rely on the 300 Lutheran health and human services providers throughout the United States that comprise Lutheran Services in America, thank you for considering our statement at this important time. With our active presence in over 1,400 communities in 45 states as seen on this map, our work is critically important in improving the lives of America’s most vulnerable people, ranging from seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities to children, youth and families, and the homeless.
The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically affects all of the people we serve and services we provide. Our 300 health and human service organizations are on the front lines caring for people while taking extraordinary steps to protect their staff and people served. Yet they increasingly struggle with equipment shortages, especially personal protective equipment; severe workforce shortages necessitating hazard pay; declining revenue; and the need to reduce or eliminate needed services. These severe challenges are occurring while our organizations simultaneously face limited cash reserves, decreasing revenue and already-tight margins.
Our work is deeply embedded in communities across the country where we have provided services for over 150 years. Yet our work—which comprises a significant part of the health and human services delivery system—cannot continue without specific measures taken soon to support nonprofit health and human service organizations. Without needed resources to support our work during this time of crisis, we will be unable to meet the increasing needs of individuals and communities at their most vulnerable time. One specific resource that is direly needed is an increase in the federal unemployment insurance reimbursement for self-funded nonprofits (also known as “reimbursing employers”) to 100% of costs.
Since 1972 when nonprofit organizations were required to provide unemployment benefits to their employees for the first time, 501c3 charitable nonprofits were given the option to opt out of the State Unemployment Tax system and have been permitted by Congress to self-insure claims for unemployment benefits by paying back the state unemployment trust fund for benefits paid to their former employees. These “reimbursing employers” include nonprofits, state and local governments, and federally recognized Indian Tribes that follow the law by electing to make payments in lieu of contributions to state unemployment trust funds.
As currently enacted into law, Section 2103 of the CARES Act provides that the federal government will cover 50 percent of the cost of claims charged to these reimbursing employers. This will subject self-funded nonprofits throughout the country to crippling payments to their state unemployment systems later this year, while other employers will likely experience little or no additional costs resulting from mass COVID-19-related layoffs. The impacts will be real. Many nonprofits will be hit with a bill for reimbursement to states at a time when the demand for services is highest.
Seventy-five percent of payroll costs in the nonprofit sector are paid out by “reimbursing employers.” Together, these organizations provide much of the infrastructure that we rely on to serve people in all our communities. Addressing this issue by providing 100% reimbursement for these nonprofits will help ensure that they will be able to better direct their limited resources to serving vulnerable people through the care and services they provide every day.
June 22, 2020
RRF Foundation for Aging recently awarded Lutheran Services in America a grant to conduct a year-long process evaluation of LSA Senior Connect, an enhanced service coordinator program piloted in Toledo, Ohio. The grant will allow researchers from the LTSS Center @UMass Boston to explore how LSA Senior Connect was implemented, with an eye toward informing and guiding replication of LSA Senior Connect in additional low-income and affordable housing communities for older adults. The study will also contribute to ongoing policy discussions addressing the need for increased investment in supportive services delivered in low-income and affordable housing for older adults across the country.
LSA Senior Connect is a person-centered service coordination model developed by Lutheran Services in America and 13 of its member organizations for supporting low-income older adults with chronic health illness within their homes and communities. LSA Senior Connect retrains caregivers to assess the needs of older adults, creates individualized care plans driven by the older adult, and connects the older adult to services and supports that could help them improve their health and quality of life while maintaining their independence.
Thirteen low-income and affordable housing sites of Genacross Lutheran Services in Toledo, Ohio, implemented LSA Senior Connect in February 2019. Initial screening of residents in the program identified unmet needs for social determinants of health including nutrition, transportation, social isolation, home safety, and mobility. For more than a year, service coordinators in the program have been working to address these needs by providing program participants with access to such services as healthy food, reliable transportation to medical appointments, in-home supports, and physical therapy.
The LTSS Center will conduct qualitative in-depth interviews of Lutheran Services in America and Genacross Lutheran Services staff, service coordinators, property managers, residents, and community partners over the next year to evaluate the process. The study of this implementation will guide replication efforts of this enhanced service coordination program and help increase investment in support services delivered for older adults at home.
More than 200 member organizations in Lutheran Services in America’s network of 300 nonprofit health and human service providers serve the needs of older adults.
June 30, 2020
WASHINGTON — Lutheran Services in America, the Washington, D.C.-based national network of Lutheran social ministry organizations, is proud to announce Kristen Gay, Katherine Hayes and the Rev. Jeffrey Thiemann as the newest members of its board of directors. Gay, Hayes and Thiemann will each serve a three-year term, beginning Wednesday. Lutheran Services in America connects more than 300 Lutheran health & human service providers nationwide, working to improve the lives of one in 50 Americans each year, and helping them reach their full potential and live purpose-driven lives.
“Lutheran Services in America is pleased to welcome three outstanding leaders onto our board of directors,” said Charlotte Haberaecker, president and CEO of Lutheran Services in America. “The impressive backgrounds and skill sets that Kristen, Katherine, and Jeff bring to our board during this unprecedented time in our nation’s history strengthen our organization even more as a leading voice for strong, healthy and sustainable families and communities across the country. Their addition is particularly important given our ever-growing role in providing the vital support that nonprofit health and human services organizations need now more than ever.”
Kristen Gay serves as the president and CEO of Gemma Services, after holding several positions within the organization for many years in a career devoted to children and families. Gemma Services is the product of a November 2019 merger between theVillage and Silver Springs — Martin Luther School, which Gay formerly led as president and CEO. Gay has clinical experience in counseling and school psychology, and has served as an adjunct instructor at the University of Pennsylvania where she previously earned a Ph.D. in school, community and clinical child psychology.
“The opportunity to continue serving children, youth and families — as well as seniors, veterans, and others — in a new capacity as a member of the Lutheran Services in America board of directors is thrilling,” said Gay. “I am delighted to join the ranks of the 12 other members who share the same conviction of improving the health and quality of life for so many, from our youngest generation to our oldest, by leveraging the power of this respected national network.”
Katherine Hayes is the director of health policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, where she has focused on health care reform, delivery system reform, chronic care, and long-term care. Hayes has 35 years of health policy experience in health care financing, long-term care and Medicare/Medicaid. She has extensive academic credentials as an associate professor at the George Washington University and an adjunct professor at American University. Hayes also has experience as health counsel to several members of Congress, as policy director for two nonprofit health systems, and has worked for a governor and state Medicaid agency. She received her B.A. from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, J.D. from the American University Washington College of Law, and she is a member of the District of Columbia Bar.
“I am excited to work with Charlotte and the rest of the board in pursuit of Lutheran Services in America’s mission to transform the lives of millions by helping them reach their full potential,” said Hayes. “The Lutheran Services in America name is one built on trust, trust that has been earned over the years by turning ideas into a reality for communities nationwide. I look forward to strengthening our efforts through our strategic partnerships across the health and human services landscape to deliver better outcomes for children, older adults, people with disabilities, and many others.”
The Rev. Jeffrey Thiemann has led Portico Benefit Services as its president and CEO for nearly a decade. Thiemann also serves on the board of directors for the Church Benefits Association and is vice chair of the steering committee for the Church Alliance. He previously served in several technical, marketing, and leadership capacities, including nearly 20 years in global assignments and management positions at Hewlett-Packard. Thiemann holds a master’s degree in divinity from Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary and is a graduate of MIT and the Harvard Business School’s executive education general manager program.
“One of the biggest assets of Lutheran Services in America is its reputation as an innovator. I whole-heartedly believe in the mission of this national network to improve the well-being of one in 50 Americans through innovative practices,” said Thiemann. “I am eager to begin working alongside some of our nation’s best leaders with proven track records in making the greatest difference in people’s lives.”
The arrival of these newest members to the Lutheran Services in America board follows the retirement of David Fenoglietto, president and CEO of Lutheran SeniorLife, and David Swartling from the board today. As of July 1, the 2020–2021 board will be comprised of 13 members.
About Lutheran Services in America
Lutheran Services in America is the national network of Lutheran social ministry organizations — connecting over 300 nonprofit health and human service providers located throughout the country. Recognized by The Chronicle of Philanthropy and Forbes as one of the nation’s largest nonprofits, the Lutheran Services in America network operates with more than $22 billion in annual revenue and over 250,000 member employees. Together, the network lifts up the nation’s most vulnerable people from children to seniors — making a difference in the lives of one in 50 Americans every year. To learn more, please visit www.lutheranservices.org.
July 7, 2020
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many older adults and their caregivers have remained in their homes across the country and lack technology to access key resources, including virtual counseling and support groups. In an effort to improve the quality of life for the millions of caregivers across the United States who are experiencing social isolation, the Lutheran Services in America network will expand the services of its Remote Caregiver program with the support of a grant from the Consumer Technology Association Foundation. Remote Caregiver was created to help caregivers with their ability to offer quality care to rural seniors, many of whom struggle with multiple chronic conditions and lack access to services because of distance, transportation, or their own mobility limitations. Lutheran Services in America member organizations Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota and Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota will use the new Consumer Technology Association Foundation funds to serve 50 families through May 2021.
Remote Caregiver is one of five programs provided by the Great Plains Senior Services Collaborative, a multi-state initiative sponsored and convened by Lutheran Services in America that is dedicated to supporting low-income and vulnerable seniors in the rural communities of Minnesota, North Dakota and Montana. The program provides coaching, teaching, and encouragement to family or informal caregivers who serve older adults. Remote Caregiver increases social connection and independent living for caregivers and older adults in rural settings through the use of modern technology, including handheld tablets, FaceTime, Skype and web conferences. The program has filled a critical need for caregiver services during the COVID-19 pandemic as many formerly in-person services such as counseling, support groups, and respite care are currently not offered.
Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota implemented Remote Caregiver in rural Minnesota counties during the first phase of the Great Plains Senior Services Collaborative (2016–2018). The grant now allows our network to extend services to additional older adults by providing training to new Remote Caregiver staff and supporting educational programs, support groups, and coaching sessions to help them in their caregiving role. The program’s expansion has the potential to support vulnerable caregivers, an estimated 34 million Americans who provided unpaid care to older adults in the past year and reduced the rate of admission to nursing homes for those receiving care. This next step will help set up the program to meet increased needs of caregivers since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and afford them with the knowledge and tools needed to strengthen their caregiving skills, take care of their own personal needs, and enrich their role as caregivers.
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