The AFA’s Educating America tour is a nation-wide educational initiative connecting communities with information about Alzheimer’s disease, brain health, caregiving, and more. Participants had the opportunity to hear from experts on Alzheimer’s research, caregiving, elder law, and advance planning.
Mark’s presentation was titled, Why a Will is Not Enough, and included a range of topics from lifetime planning and financial decision making, to long-term care and medicaid planning.
Update! Mark’s presentation has been made available and is embedded below:
I have known the lead physician featured, Dr. Brian R. Ott, since the 1990s when we served together on the Board of the Rhode Island Alzheimer’s Association. Brian has also graciously spoken to students in the Elder Law class I teach at Roger Williams University School of Law. However, I did not know Dr. Ott’s “origin story”—that is, how, as a behavioral neurologist, his interest in seeking treatments for Alzheimer’s disease evolved.
As Dr. Ott points out, when he began his work thirty years ago, “there were no treatments at all”, however, “they were just starting to do clinical trials”. Nevertheless, Brian could see that “down the tracks we’re going to get a treatment”, and participated in clinical trials for the first drug approved by the FDA for prescription to treat Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders.
Having followed the news of many false starts for the treatment of this devastating disease over the years, I was encouraged to read in Wayne’s story of Brian’s hope for the future. Dr. Ott and his team of researchers at Rhode Island Hospital’s Alzheimer’s Disease and Memory Disorders Center are participating in national studies of new treatments, causing him to be “optimistic again”.
These studies, and the work of Brian’s team members, including Dr. Lori Ann Daiello and Dr. Jonathan D. Drake, are described in more detail in Wayne’s article, which includes an audio recording of Brian and his team describing their work. Also featured in the article are videos of two participants in the research, who graciously shared their own stories, which are sure to resonate with anyone whose family member or other loved has coped with this condition.
Thanks to Brian and his team for their persistence and dedication, and thanks again to Wayne and the Providence Journal for their reporting of it.
Comments Off on Mark Heffner Video Testimony to RI Task Force on Elderly Abuse and Financial Exploitation
Following up on a post from this last Wednesday, we are sharing the video testimony of Attorney Mark Heffner’s presentation to the Rhode Island Special Task Force on Elderly Abuse and Financial Exploitation.
Comments Off on Mark Heffner Presents to Rhode Island Special Task Force on Elderly Abuse and Financial Exploitation
Our firm’s principal, Mark B. Heffner, Esq., will present later today (March 6, 2019) at the fourth meeting of the Rhode Island Special Task Force to Study Elderly Abuse and Financial Exploitation.
Attorney Heffner, who is also a sitting member of the task force, served for ten years as a member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives. In that capacity, Mark chaired the Guardianship Commission and the Probate Commission, the work of each of which he will reference in his remarks today.
In 2016, Mark’s article in the Rhode Island Bar Journal on the history of guardianship laws in Rhode Island won the Bar Journal’s annual writing award. A copy of that article has been distributed to Task Force members and will be available to attendees of today’s hearing.
We hope to publish a video of Mark Heffner’s presentation at a date in the near future.
Comments Off on Presentation Slides for Providence Retired Teachers Association
On October 24th, I was pleased to present to a meeting of the Providence Retired Teachers Association (PRTA), a program entitled Estate and Medicaid Planning. As promised, posted below are the slides from the presentation.
This presentation was the sixth time—the first being in 2003–that I have been privileged to present to the PRTA. As a proud and grateful graduate of the Warwick public schools, I am glad make whatever contribution I can to retired public school teachers.
It was great to see many familiar faces, as well to meet new members. One member missed by all, of course, was the PRTA’s long-time former President, Anthony Mancini. I was pleased hear of the efforts to develop a scholarship fund in Anthony’s name. When asked to what organization I would like a contribution in my name to made by the PRTA, the answer was easy—the Anthony Mancini Scholarship Fund! Once the requisite documentation from the IRS is received by the PRTA, I and many others look forward to making direct contributions in honor of a man who did so much for the PRTA.
If you have specific questions, or wish to consult with me about your individual circumstances, please contact me. Again, it was a pleasure to be with you again.
Comments Off on “Navigating Mom’s Final Years” Recap: Tools for Supporting Aging Loved Ones
I was delighted and privileged to serve as a panelist on a seminar sponsored by The Catholic Foundation of Rhode Island on October 4th entitled Navigating Mom’s Final Years.
Expertly organized by Andrea Krupp, Esq. of the Catholic Foundation, the fact pattern presented was honed by my fellow panelist Betsey Purinton, CFP of StrategicPoint. The scenarios developed by Betsey enabled us and our fellow panelist, The Reverend Monsignor John Darcy, to outline the circumstances commonly experienced by aging baby-boomers, elders and their family.
Betsy’s fact patterns, highlighted by the deft skills of our moderator, Nicholas Denice of Hinckley Allen, were an excellent starting point for us panelists to discuss the financial, legal and spiritual issues confronting aging people and their families in these increasingly common situations.
As promised, I am including two links referred in my presentation. The first, Why Am l Left in the Waiting Room? Understanding the 4 C’s of Elder Law Ethics, is a brochure which I assign to the students in my Elder Law class at Roger Williams University Law School. As Betsey pointed out in her presentation, it is important for both legal and financial professionals to focus on who the client is.
The second is a link to the Center for Medicare Advocacy’s FAQ guide on the Medicare “Improvement Standard”. It dispels the persistent myth that a long-term nursing home resident needs to be “improving” in order to continue receiving the skilled nursing home benefit available under Part A of Medicare. This link contains advocacy tools for family members seeking to maximize the Medicare benefits of a loved one in a nursing home.
Thanks to the Foundation, sponsors (listed below), fellow panelists and attendees for an excellent learning experience.
Comments Off on Attorney Heffner Testifies Before House Finance Committee on Governor’s Medicaid Budget
On March 15th, I testified before the Finance Committee of Rhode Island House of Representative on the Governor’s proposed 2018-2019 budget. I specifically wished to alert the members of the Finance Committee to provisions contained in Articles 13 and 14 of the proposed which would enable the Rhode Island Office of Health and Human Services (OHHS) to promulgate regulations directly affecting eligibility for long-term care Medicaid benefits.
As I reminded the members, the General Assembly when it enacted the “Global Waiver” in 2009, specifically retained for itself through the legislative process the ability to change rules affecting eligibility. This was wise. For however imperfect the legislative process may be, it light-years more transparent to the people of Rhode Island than the “rule making process” of OHHS or any other state agency.
The House Finance Committee hearing that evening was a perfect example of the contrast between the two processes. Chairman Abney began the hearing by welcoming the many members of the public who had come to testify. He and other members of the Committee listened patiently and respectfully to all testimony, with members occasionally raising questions of the witnesses to gain further insight.
Having the privilege of serving as member of the House of Representatives for ten years, I am familiar with this process. Based on the testimony that evening-which lasted for nearly two hours—members of the Committee will reflect on what they heard, consult with the exceptionally able and professional staff of the Finance Committee regarding details of the budget articles, and confer with their colleagues. Most importantly, the members will able to continue to hear directly from the people they are privileged to represent regarding how any proposed changes in eligibility would affect them.
If instead the General Assembly gives up this prerogative to OHHS, the process will be dramatically different. There will be a public announcement by OHHS of the proposed promulgation of new eligibility rules. “Interested parties”—including members of the public will be able to come to a hearing and submit written or oral testimony to whomever at OHHS is given authority to make this eligibility changes.
However, unlike the potential for interaction with members of the Finance Committee, there will be no response from the OHHS officials presiding at such a “hearing”. And in contrast to the legislative process, that will be the first and last time members of the public will have an opportunity to have any input. Plus, there will be no way to ascertain whether that public input made any difference in the making of the rule. Rather, the end result will be pronouncement of a rule by an unelected “policy” bureaucrat at OHHS.
The General Assembly wisely retained the responsibility for making rules regarding Medicaid eligibility. OHHS is still trying to dig out from the damage done by this Administration’s “original sin” in September, 2016 of rolling out an new computer system to process Medicaid eligibility while simultaneously terminating experienced and dedicated caseworkers and supervisors with collectively hundreds of man and woman hours of actually helping applicants. Yet this Administration in Articles 13 and 14 of its proposed budget somehow thinks it a good idea to add to an already burdened OHHS more responsibility.
I was grateful for the opportunity in my testimony to provide this context to the members of the Committee. And I am confident that they will not throw away the prerogative retained by a previous General Assembly to make rules regarding the Medicaid eligibility on which many of their constituents depend.
Comments Off on Elder Care Law Presentation Slides for Wellness at Brown
Many thanks to Wellness at Brown for hosting Friday’s program on Elder Care Law. It was an excellent turnout with many astute questions from participants.
As promised, attached are the slides which I presented. In the continuing Q&A after the program, I indicated I would post a link to a blog post which I had written on the myth of the requirement for “improvement” to obtain or continue benefits under Medicare for skilled nursing home care. If you review this post, I encourage you to link through to my earlier post which explains the basics of the issue.
If you and your family are facing these types of issues now or in the future, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.
Comments Off on An (Award Winning!) History of Rhode Island Guardianship Laws
This is just a quick follow-up to a post I shared back in May about an article I wrote on the evolution of guardianship in Rhode Island, which was published in the Rhode Island Bar Journal.
And now, on to the main point of today’s post. An expanded, full-length version of that article has now been published in the Summer 2016 issue of the Roger Williams University Law Review.
From the dark period beginning in the 1700s to the present day provisions, the 35-page article provides an in-depth look at the evolution of guardianship laws in our state, and in particular, the grounds for the initiation of a guardianship proceeding and the procedural rights of the individual for whom the guardianship is sought.
