Ratner & Pinchman

A Professional Law Corporation

Nursing Home Residents Can Go Home for the Holidays

As the holidays approach, nursing facility residents and their family members often worry about losing their rooms, or their Medicare or Medi-Cal status, if they leave a nursing facility for brief periods of time. While the rules for Medicare and Medi-Cal differ, both programs will permit, and reimburse the facility for, short leaves – depending on how long the leave is. The Medicare Policy Manual, Chapter 8 §30.7.3, states that residents who leave the facility for an “outsid

Special Needs Trust Fairness Act Signed into Law

The Special Needs Trust Fairness Act corrects a patently false and degrading error in the law that presumed all individuals with disabilities lacked the capacity to handle their own affairs. Today, the President Signed into law the Special Needs Trust Fairness Act, which corrects an error in the law that presumes that all persons with disabilities lack the mental capacity to handle their own affairs. “D-4-A” special needs trusts were first recognized by Congress in 1993. T

What is a Service Animal?

What is a Service Animal? The Department of Justice published revised final regulations implementing the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for title II (State and local government services) and title III (public accommodations and commercial facilities) on September 15, 2010, in the Federal Register. These requirements, or rules, clarify and refine issues that have arisen over the past 20 years and contain new, and updated, requirements, including the 2010 Standards for A

U.S. Dementia Rates are Dropping

A large national survey recently published by the journal JAMA Internal Medicine found that dementia rates across the United States are actually dropping, with a 24 percent reduction between 2000 and 2012 in dementia rates for Americans aged 65 and older. Read the full New York Times article, U.S. Dementia Rates are Dropping Even as Population Ages. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/21/health/dementia-rates-united-states.html?emc=edit_th_20161122&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=40195208

New Federal Nursing Home Regulations Take Effect

The first phase of revised federal nursing home regulations took effect on November 28, 2016, implementing numerous changes to the federal standards that have been in place since 1991. The new regulations are a mixed bag for nursing home residents that affect almost every aspect of life in a nursing home. Unfortunately, the most important new requirement – a ban on pre-dispute arbitration agreements – has been stayed by a federal court order in Mississippi ruling on behalf of

Social Security Changes in 2017

Benefits Increase Slightly The program’s 60 million beneficiaries will get 0.3 percent more in monthly benefits next year. Retired workers will see a $5 bump on average, to $1,360. http://www.aarp.org/work/social-security/info-2016/2017-social-security-changes-photo.html?cmp=EMC-DSO-NLC-RSS---CTRL-120216-P1-1652999&ET_CID=1652999&ET_RID=27014424&encparam=L+Ao8gWGa4bG4207eJvSa42ROR8xYsyANrJTC0/vfcY=#slide1

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