Policy Corner: October 21, 2022
Categories: Policy Corner Archives
ACL Awards Four Grants for Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems Centers
The Administration for Community Living’s (ACL) National Institute for Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) has announced four additional Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems (SCIMS) Centers in FY 2022 to join the existing SCIMS program grantees. The planned project period for these four grants is September 1, 2022 – August 31, 2026, with an estimated funding amount of $490,000 per year for each grantee. Similar to the Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems (TBIMS), this network creates opportunities for critical collaboration between SCI clinicians and researchers from across the U.S. and allows investigators to generate sample sizes that are adequate for the development and testing of a wide variety of interventions. NIDILRR currently supports 18 SCIMS centers through this program. Grant recipients are:
- Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Corporation, Charlestown, MA: New England Regional Spinal Cord Injury Care Center
- Regents of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI: Michigan Spinal Injury Model System
- Memorial Hermann Health System, Houston, TX: Texas Spinal Cord Injury Model System (SR-SCIMS)
- University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL: Alabama Spinal Cord Injury Model System
CMS Proposes to Create Directory on Health Care Providers
As part of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) ongoing work to improve access to care, CMS is proposing to create a directory with information on health care providers and services or a “National Directory of Healthcare Providers and Services” (NDH). CMS envisions that an NDH could serve as a “centralized data hub” for providers’ directory, which would contain accurate, up-to-date, and validated data in a publicly accessible index. CMS is soliciting feedback related to the NDH concept, including provider types, entities and data elements that could be included to create value for the industry. The RFI is open for a 60-day public comment period through December 6, 2022. For more information or to provide feedback, view the Federal Register here.
November 8 Election is Approaching: Know Your Voting Rights
As we approach the November elections, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission reminds individuals with disabilities that you have the right to:
- Vote privately and independently
- Have an accessible polling place with voting machines for voters with disabilities
You may either:
- Seek assistance from workers at the polling place who have been trained to use the accessible voting machine, or
- Bring someone to help you vote
You may request your local election officials to tell you about any voting aids, voting assistance, and absentee ballot procedures that are available. For more information, contact the U.S. Election Assistance Commission by phone at (866) 747-1471 or by email.
The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002 was passed by the Congress to address improvements to voting systems and voter access. HAVA requires jurisdictions responsible for conducting federal elections to provide at least one accessible voting system for persons with disabilities at each polling place in federal elections. The accessible voting system must provide the same opportunity for access and participation, including privacy and independence, that other voters receive.