This Thursday, January 25 at 10:00 am ET, the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging will hold a hearing, "Assisted Living Facilities: Understanding Long-Term Care Options for Older Adults." This will be the first hearing the Aging Committee has held in more than twenty-years specifically focused on assisted living.

Ahead of the hearing, we want to make sure that Senators hear from assisted living residents, family members, and other supporters on why they love assisted living and what makes it so special. It is important that lawmakers hear your personal stories, why you chose assisted living for yourself or a loved one, what makes your community a home, and how your care team is like family. You may also consider sharing how assisted living has helped improve quality of life, health outcomes and outlook, and if it has helped support your family's role as caregivers.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will host an Application Office Hour on Thursday, January 11, 2024 at 2:00 p.m. ET for the "Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience" (GUIDE) model. The session will provide a brief overview of the GUIDE model and offer a forum to address questions about the model, the Request for Applications, and the application process.

Today's Argentum Advocates member briefing provided an update on Argentum's response to the recent national media coverage of assisted living and how Argentum is working to reshape the narrative and counter misleading and flawed reporting.

The session also provided a recap of the major accomplishments over the past year, to include last week's introduction of H.R. 6835, Argentum-led legislation to foster intergenerational connection between seniors and children.

Calling all Argentum Advocates: Tomorrow at 2:00 pm ET, Argentum will present its monthly member-exclusive policy briefing.

This session will include an important update on recent national media coverage and how Argentum is leading the response to reshape the narrative and counter misleading and flawed reporting.

We will also share a year-in-review of the major accomplishments of our policy priorities, including H.R. 6835, the just-introduced legislation led by Argentum to foster intergenerational connection between seniors and children, and we'll look ahead to the coming year and how Argentum Advocates can get involved.

Argentum Advocates are invited to these exclusive sessions to hear directly from Argentum’s federal lobbyists on our current federal and state public policy efforts.

Argentum Advocates Member Briefing
Wednesday, December 20, 2023
2:00 PM ET

Argentum is thrilled to share that yesterday, U.S. Representatives Marilyn Strickland (D-WA), Bryan Steil (R-WI), and Ann McLane Kuster (D-NH) introduced H.R. 6835, the Care Across Generations Act. This Argentum-led bill would help more seniors and children interact with one another, providing health and well-being benefits and addressing the epidemic of loneliness facing our nation, while also potentially helping reduce workforce shortages by improving caregiver retention.

Argentum worked directly with the Congressional offices to draft the legislative language of the Care Across Generations Act. The bill would establish grants for long-term care communities to operate a child care facility within their community, coordinate multigenerational activities, or develop or expand new or existing facilities for the specific purpose of fostering intergenerational connections.

Calling all Argentum Advocates: Tomorrow at 2:00 pm ET, Argentum will present its monthly member-exclusive policy briefing.

This session will look at the latest government funding agreement and its impact to Argentum's priorities in the broader appropriations process, expectations for the remainder of Congress's year, and updates to senior living specific legislation lead by Argentum that is expected to be introduced in the coming weeks.

Argentum Advocates are invited to these exclusive sessions to hear directly from Argentum’s federal lobbyists on our current federal and state public policy efforts.

Argentum Advocates Member Briefing
Wednesday, November 29, 2023
2:00 PM ET

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) included more than $400 billion in  tax credits and incentives to promote energy efficiency and help offset the costs of solar power systems, lighting systems, heating, cooling, and ventilation systems, hot water systems, clean vehicles” and EV charging stations. Many of these may be applicable to senior living communities. Recent guidance on these provisions includes:

Yesterday, President Biden signed into law H.R. 6363, a continuing resolution (CR) that will fund the government until after the New Year, and thereby avert a shutdown that otherwise would have started tomorrow. The CR funds most of the government through February 2, while four spending bills would be funded through January 19: Agriculture, Energy and Water, Military Construction-VA and Transportation-HUD.

The Senate passed the package on Wednesday by a vote of 87-11. The package passed the House on Tuesday by a vote of 336-95, with 207 Democrats joining 127 Republicans to secure passage. Notably, even more Republican voted against this package than the CR negotiated by then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to avert the would-be shutdown on October 1.

Earlier today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it is now accepting applications for the Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience (GUIDE) Model, a package of care coordination and management, caregiver education and support, and respite services to improve the quality of life for people living with dementia, reduce strain on unpaid caregivers, and help people remain in their homes and communities.

In observance of Veterans Day, the U.S. Senate Special Committee On Aging is holding a field hearing in Tampa, Florida today at 2:00 p.m. ET on "Issues Facing Veterans: Access to Care, Services, and Economic Opportunity."

Today's field hearing presents an opportunity for senior living advocates to get our voices heard on the need for Congress to pass the Expanding Veterans' Options for Long Term Care Act (H.R. 1815, S. 495). This bipartisan legislation would finally give veterans the ability to choose assisted living for their long-term care, instead of a nursing home.