Cultural Immersion at College Arms - College Arms Towers, an affordable housing community, was featured in this week's issue of the DeLand Beacon, a local newspaper. The article focused on a unique cultural and enhancement program that is now 10 years old. A full-page of photographs showed volunteer residents socializing with international students who participate in an "English as a Second Language" program. Residents at College Arms get the benefit of cultural enhancement and awareness while the students get to practice English and learn about American culture. The program, originally designed as a one time event by service coordinator Jackie Shepard, has run once per month, every month, for 10 years.

Attendance at FAHSA's Workshops Important - To keep up to date with regulatory and occupancy issues, mark your calendar and plan to attend one or more of FAHSA's fall training programs. Regulations are changing so fast that it's hard to keep up with what's going on without attending FAHSA's educational programs on a regular basis. Sometimes, when budgets get tight, members miss valuable training opportunities that could save lots of time and money in the long run. Please take a look at the fall line up of courses below and make plans to attend.

Upcoming Workshops:

• July 29 -- FAHSA's Preceptors Training Program, Rosen Shingle Creek, Orlando, FL
• July 29 -- FAHSA's Strategic Visioning Workshop, Rosen Shingle Creek, Orlando, FL
• July 29 & 30 - FAHSA's Two Day Leadership Intensive: A New leadership Framework for Aging Services, Rosen Shingle Creek, Orlando, FL
• July 29--August 2 -- FAHSA's 44th Annual Convention and Exposition, Rosen Shingle Creek, Orlando, FL
• August 21 -- Survey and Enforcement from AHCA Webinar
• September 18 & 19 -- FAHSA's Home and Community-Based Services Workshop, Wyndham Jacksonville Riverwalk, Jacksonville
• September 19 & 20 -- FAHSA's Annual HUD and Service Coordinator Workshop, Wyndham Jacksonville Riverwalk, Jacksonville
• October 2 -- QIS Training, Miami, FL
• October 3 & 4 -- FAHSA's Dynamic Directions Advanced Nurse Leadership Workshop, Safety Harbor
• October 5 -- QIS Training, Jacksonville, FL
• October 9 & 10 -- Board of Trustees Meeting, Orlando, FL
• October 11 -- QIS Training, Orlando, FL
• November 15 - FAHSA's Maintenance Workshop, Holiday Inn, Orlando, FL

FSAE Honors Janegale Boyd - Last Thursday, the Florida Society of Association Executives (FSAE) presented FAHSA's President/CEO Janegale Boyd with its 2007 FSAE Executive Member of the Year Award at a statewide meeting in Panama City Beach. The coveted award is given annually to an association executive who has displayed the highest commitment to professional growth and pride in association management and who is know for leadership and civic contributions. Candidates for the award must demonstrate that they have made significant contributions to the associations they manage.

Janegale was singled out for her integrity and many accomplishments as the President/CEO of FAHSA over the past five years highlighting accomplishments including enviable membership retention, demonstrated financial growth and stability, expanded the shared service Preferred Business Associates program, and enhanced employee benefits. She was also praised for the leadership role she played during the 2004-05 hurricane seasons, when she spearheaded a fundraising campaign that netted $180,000 for hurricane relief for FAHSA members and personally traveled to many member retirement communities with supplies to ensure the welfare of the residents.

Congratulations Janegale for a much deserved honor!

Let's Keep It Going - For the past three weeks, FAHSA member communities have received visits from legislators curious to know more about affordable housing. This week, Linda Rubens, Administrator, Mt. Carmel Gardens, attended a small reception hosted by the Governor at the Governor's mansion to discuss housing, services and residents with disabilities. The Governor and his staff are planning a trip to Mt. Carmel Gardens to see the community first-hand in the fall. With another special session scheduled for September (see article under Legislative News), now is the time to invite your legislators to visit your community and to get to know you and your residents.

New 4350.3 Change 2 Available -- The newly revised 4350.3 HUD Handbook with Change 2 has just been released, effective June 29, 2007. FAHSA is offering hard copies of the HUD 4350.3 Handbook with Change 2, including easy to use tabbed sections. The entire handbook, with appendices, will be shipped in a three-ring binder that can be placed on your shelf or desk in your office. Your order will be shipped in a few weeks (after convention). As a bonus, you will receive the manual in electronic format on CD. The order form is available by CLICKING HERE. Please fill out the form and fax to (850) 671- 3790.

Mary Ross, President, Ross Business Development will be covering the first training on the new changes on Wednesday, August 1 from 1:45 - 4:45 p.m. during FAHSA's 44th Convention at the Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando. It's not too late to attend! Register at the door. Come join us to get a jump on the new changes!!!

Special Session Called to Address Proposed Budget Cuts; Medicaid on the Cutting Block - You have probably heard from newspaper and TV news reports that Governor Charlie Crist directed his agencies to develop an across-the-board 10% budget reduction plan as a potential response to Florida's sagging economy. About two-thirds of the state's $71.5 billion budget is concentrated in the areas of heath (Medicaid) and social services and education. Consequently, the poor and sick could be most affected. Medicaid's share of the budget is approximately $1.5 billion. The Legislature must approve or modify budget cuts proposed by the Governor.

On Tuesday, Senate President Ken Pruitt and House Speaker Marco Rubio announced that the Legislature will convene for a Special Session on the State Budget Deficit, beginning Tuesday, September 18, 2007. It could extend into October. The action did not come as a surprise, considering that state economists are projecting a budget shortfall of more than $1-billion. State revenues are falling because of a slump in real estate sales, which has led to a sharp decline in the documentary stamp tax collections on land and home sales. Sales tax collections, the single largest source of state income, also fell short of earlier projections, which reinforce the wisdom of lawmakers who rejected the idea of replacing the property tax with a sales tax.

FAHSA's Chief Operating Officer, Erwin Bodo, has been in contact with AHCA officials. At this time, they are not releasing details about proposed budget cuts for specific programs and services funded with Medicaid dollars. However, AHCA has committed to involving us in decisions leading to the development of a final cut list.

The bottom line is simple -- we are facing a potentially catastrophic nursing home program cut that may be as large as $260 million. Our guess is that the minimum reduction, if the revenue picture does not improve, will be a rate freeze on January 1, 2007. It may be much more if the full 10% cut is needed to address the revenue shortfall. The budget cuts could also have significant effects on residents of affordable housing who now benefit from home and community- based services and other providers of care and services who depend on state funding.

Please do not contact your legislators just yet. There is no reason to raise any alarms until we have more details, which will come after the next budget revenue estimating conference later this month. At some point in the future, we will be asking nursing home and retirement community members to educate their legislators about the consequences of a nursing home funding cut on care and services, especially if the proposed cut is disproportionately large. Depending on the amount of cuts proposed for in- home services and waiver programs, we will probably be making a similar request of affordable housing, ALF, and home and community-based service provider members.

Proposed Bill on Health Care for Kids Would Take Money from Nursing Homes - Members of the U.S. House of Representatives recently unveiled a bill that would increase funding for a children's health insurance program, in part, through significant payment cutbacks to skilled nursing facilities and other long-term care providers. The Children's Health and Medicare Protection Act of 2007 (CHAMP Act) would freeze Medicare payments in 2008 for nursing homes, home health agencies and long-term care hospitals. The $90 billion legislative package would provide $50 billion in funding over five years to the State Children's Health Insurance Program. It also would eliminate a scheduled Medicare payment cut to doctors. The bill could reach the House floor next week.

Nursing Home Administrator: CE Broker No Longer Requires You to Record Domains - At FAHSA's request, the Board of Nursing Home Administrators, effective August 20, has declared that nursing home administrators may record their completed continuing education credits from educational courses on electronic transcripts (CE Broker) under the "General" domain, without specifying a specific Domain of Practice.

The portion of the Transcript relating to Domains of Practice has been re-written and, as of August 20, will read:

• General - (must be in one of the Domains of Practice - Personnel, Finance, Marketing, Physical Resource Management, Laws, Regulatory Codes and Governing Boards, Resident Care)
• The Medical Errors and HIV/AIDS portion of the Nursing Home Administrator Transcript remains unchanged.

Q & A on Self-Submitting for NAB Credit - The following information was recently provided by CE Broker:

• Question: Why can't a Nursing Home Administrator submit NAB approved courses via the self-submit option?li>
• Answer: The capability for Nursing Home Administrators to self-submit NAB approved courses is now once again available in CE Broker.
• The name of the self-submit option reads: "CE Course Approved by the National Continuing Education Review Service of the National Association of Boards of Examiners of Nursing Home Administrators, Inc. (NAB) - [NH]"
• Be sure the course's NAB approval number is listed on your completion certificate as you'll need this number when you self-submit.
• To contact CE Broker, call toll free @ 1-877-434- 6323 or visit their website https://www.cebroker .com

FAHSA's Preferred Business Associates Program (PBAs) -- A list of PBAs can be found by on the FAHSA Web site www.fahsa.org and selecting Preferred Business Associates from the left side menu bar. FAHSA members can also use the on- line directory to search for PBAs by specialty.

FAHSA is pleased to provide an opportunity for you to advertise your "position wanted" or "position available" through the FAHSA Link newsletter and on our Web Page.

FAHSA members may use the Job Mart services at no charge. A nominal fee of $25 will be charged to nonmembers.

Your Job Mart advertisement will be displayed on our Web site for approximately three months. The FAHSA Link is published weekly and distributed to our membership which is comprised of nursing homes, CCRCs, HUD housing, assisted living facilities, independent living facilities and companies/firms.

To reserve advertisement space in our Job Mart program, please complete the application and fax it to FAHSA at (850) 671-3790 or E-mail it to jcopeland@fahsa.org