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, […]
Category: Spotlight
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 […]
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 […]
Nursing home funds used on designer suits, lingerie, spa service, complaint alleges Boston 25 News, March 6, 2025By Ted Daniel A former Boston nursing home boss and two of his employees have been accused of embezzling $3 million dollars, according to a newly filed lawsuit in Suffolk County Superior Court. The allegations center around Tony […]
What Lies Ahead For Medicaid In Budget Reconciliation?Health AffairsBy Sara Rosenbaum and Alison BarkoffFebruary 11, 2025 President Trump recently stated, “We will love and cherish” Medicaid, promising that budget cutting would be limited to finding waste and abuse. But that sentiment is not likely to prevail as Congress moves forward with massive budget cutting efforts, […]
Your Parents Deserve More From Their Nursing HomeNew York TimesBy Norma B. Coe and Rachel M. WernerFebruary 7, 2025 Dr. Coe is the director of research and Dr. Werner is the executive director at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at the University of Pennsylvania. For anyone who lives in a nursing home, the […]
By James A. Lomastro, PhDJanuary 2025 The emergence of Dignity Alliance Massachusetts (DignityMA) represents a significant evolution in the concept of honest brokers within healthcare systems. While traditional honest brokers typically strive for complete neutrality in mediating conflicts, DignityMA has pioneered a new approach that combines advocacy with intermediary functions, challenging conventional assumptions about the […]
Massachusetts Center for Health Information and Analysis (CHIA)Nursing facilities serve an important role in the continuum of health care services in Massachusetts, providing nearly 12 million patient days of service in 2023. To better understand this component of the Massachusetts health care system, CHIA’s new dashboard, released in January 2025, examines the Commonwealth’s nursing facilities […]