June 5, 2025 This DignityMA Study Session reviews the Trump Administration’s coordinated attack on disability rights, through the issuance of executive orders that eliminate legal claims and disability rights, rescind disability regulations, and challenge important disability precedents. Steven discussed strategies to oppose these efforts, particularly in light of the drastic reduction in civil rights enforcement […]
Category: News
New PESP report reveals private equity continues to acquire and bankrupt nursing homesPrivate Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP), April 23, 2025 The Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP) has released a report, “Private Equity Is Continuing to Acquire – and Bankrupt – Nursing Homes,” which reveals that private equity firms continue to acquire nursing home facilities. This […]
Trump Cuts Threaten Agency Running Meals on Wheels New York Times (free access), April 24, 2025By Reed Abelson A tiny division responsible for overseeing services for people with disabilities and older Americans is being dismantled as part of an overhaul by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary. Every Monday, Maurine Gentis, a retired teacher, […]
Five years ago, in the earliest days of the Covid pandemic, Dignity Alliance Massachusetts was established as a volunteer-driven to transform the provision of long-term services and care in the Commonwealth. Since that time, hundreds of individuals and organizations have used their collective voices and efforts to make a real difference through legislation, regulatory reform, […]
Sara Kallock (1987-2024)Sara’s 38th birthday is April 15. Sara Kallock was an active DignityMA participant for the last months of her life. Sara was diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic cancer of the pancreas in mid-September 2023. She became involved with DignityMA after months of advocating on behalf of her father who was a veteran receiving […]
2024 Double G Citations: Significant Increase in Nursing Home Noncompliance and Penalties Long Term Care Community Coalition Substandard care, abuse, and neglect are persistent and widespread problems in nursing homes, primarily due to inadequate enforcement of minimum safety standards. To help combat this, the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) imposes automatic penalties […]
by Richard Moore, April 1, 2025 The coalition to modernize the state’s Open Meeting Law by requiring hybrid (in-person and virtual) public meeting met with Senate President Karen Spilka (D-Ashland) this week to thank her for leadership in extending the current hybrid meeting law and to urge her to support pending legislation to make the […]
By Alex Green From the moment he became superintendent of the nation’s oldest public school for intellectually and developmentally disabled children in 1887 until his death in 1924, Dr. Walter E. Fernald led a wholesale transformation of our understanding of disabilities in ways that continue to influence our views today. How did the man who […]
HHS’s Transformation to Make America Healthy Again U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, March 27, 2025 The restructuring of HHS is proceeding in accordance with President Trump’s Executive Order, “Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Workforce Optimization Initiative.” Over the past four years, during the Biden administration, HHS’s budget increased by 38% […]
Private equity firms consolidating homes for disabled *Washington Post, March 18, 2025By Peter Whoriskey Summary:Private equity firms are increasingly acquiring companies that care for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, traditionally a nonprofit sector, according to a report by the Private Equity Stakeholders Project. The report warns that this trend may prioritize investor profits over […]