MGL Chapter 197 of 2024 (also known as the Long Term Care Act) established a number of commissions and task forces. The final reports from several of them have recently been released which are listed below along with commentary by DignityMA participants. Long Term Care Task Force Final Report (pdf) Massachusetts General Law Chapter 197 […]
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Rest Homes
Rest Homes are another type of facility in MA. April, 2025: EOHHS updated the Rest Home Task Force Report. Jim Lomastro response Response to the April 2025 Rest Home Task Force Report. Summary of Rest Home Taskforce Strengths: The report is comprehensive in scope, addressing licensing, regulatory structures, bed inventory, service areas, closures, federal funding […]
From Boston Center for Independent Living: On July 23, over 1,400 people—we did a count—rallied at City Hall Plaza in Boston and then marched en masse down Tremont Street to The Embrace on Boston to mark the 35th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. As promised, attendees spoke out loud and clear for civil […]
Media Release Calls for Executive Action and Legislation to promote cooling for older adults and people with disabilities As another heat wave with temperatures in the nineties begins this week, Dignity Alliance Massachusetts is calling on state government to protect older adults and people with disabilities from the dangers of extreme heat. In a letter […]
By Richard T. Moore, Chair, DignityMA Legislative WorkgroupCommonwealth Beacon, July 19, 2025 The smell of smoke should never be the last thing a person experiences in their own home. Yet for residents of the Gabriel House assisted living facility in Fall River, that nightmare became a reality this week. The fire that tore through their […]
Globe Reports on Assisted Living Residences Commission July 23, 2025: Boston Globe: Fall River fire prompts reconsideration of how Mass. regulates assisted living by Jason Laughlin and Kay Lazar. “The blaze at Gabriel House, which killed 10 people and sent around 30 to hospitals, is prompting a state commission to address questions raised by the […]
The Dignity Alliance MA Legislative Group has prepared testimony for the June 24 Joint Committee on Aging and Independence Hearing. You need to sign up for Online or Oral Testimony by June 23 at 11:55 p.m. DignityMA Testimony:
Report from Michigan Elder Justice Initiative and The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care Public Funds into Private Pockets: How Nursing Homes May Be Hiding Profits and Depriving Residents of Care and Quality 2025-06-04 Read or Download Public Funds into Private Pockets (pdf) Executive Summary Nationally, Medicare and Medicaid pay nursing homes nearly $70 […]
Wheelchair Repair bills have been under consideration for several years. DignityMA has supported it for several years. Jim Lomastro of DignityMA wrote Private Equity and Wheelchair Services: A National Crisis which digs into the roots of the issue, and describes how it actually is a national crisis and not just a MA issue. For now, […]
The Great Hall in the State House was awash in a sea of blue Tuesday, May 13, 2025 when more than 600 older adults and their supporters, most wearing vivid blue tee shirts, held their annual “Older Adult Lobby Day”. State Representative Thomas Stanley (D-Waltham), House Chair of the Joint Committee on Aging and Independence, […]