Record Federal Employment of People with Disabilities

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management reports that the federal government will meet the goal of hiring 100,000 workers with disabilities within five years. The report finds that the federal government employed more people with disabilities and that people with disabilities represented a larger share of the workforce than at any other time since such record keeping began 34 years ago.

President Barack Obama issued an executive order in 2010 pledging to increase hiring of people with disabilities by the federal government by 100,000 within five years. The report found that federal offices hired 20,615 people with disabilities last year, the total number of workers with disabilities is 247,608.

The tracking is an annual report to the President on disability hiring. It shows that the largest employer in the US, the federal government is on track to reach the President’s goal by next year.

MATA Public Meeting

Schedule and Route changes presented for customer comments.

On Monday, October 19, MATA held a public meeting for bus riders to make comments on route and schedule changes. MATA was pleased with their new format of informing customers of changes to routes and times. Allison Burton welcomed everyone to the forum and explained where information was about the service changes.

Ms. Burton said that there would be minor changes to 28 weekday routes and some additional changes to Saturday and Sunday service. Riders could make comments on the web, in writing on cards MATA had at the meeting and to a court reporter so customers could have their comments transcribed. Bennett Foster of the Memphis Bus Riders Union asked that the comments be posted on the MATA website.

John Lanchaster of MATA said that none of the changes met the MATA definition of significant changes and did not discriminate against poor and minority populations. The public may make comments anytime on the web: 

 http://mciljournal.blogspot.com/2015/10/mata-taking-public-comments.html#gpluscomments

MATA taking Public Comments

Notice of Public Comments concerning routes and schedule

The Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) gives notice that comments will be accepted from the public on proposed changes on fixed-route bus service until October 22, 2015.  No changes to MATAplus service or any fares are being proposed. The proposed changes are as follows: 

PROPOSED FIXED-ROUTE BUS SERVICE CHANGES PROPOSED START DATE: DECEMBER 13, 2015

The following routes will have minor schedule adjustments to help the buses operate more on time, to adjust for better connections between routes and to adjust the frequency of the service. Weekday Routes 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 17, 19, 20, 30, 32, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 42, 50, 52, 53, 56, 57, 69, 82 

Saturday Routes 2, 4, 8, 11, 12, 13, 17, 19, 20, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 39, 40, 42, 50, 52, 53, 56, 57, 69 

Sunday Routes 2, 4, 8, 11, 17, 39, 40, 42, 50, 52, 53, 56, 57 Applicable Saturday and Sunday routes will be adjusted to have an approximate 5-minute transfer time at the Hudson Transit Center. The following routes will have minor routing changes:  Route 17- From Swift and South Parkway, right Ingle, left on Farrington, left Outer Parkway/1st Ave, left Kansas Street, to the existing routing.  

Route 32- Southbound evening trips will serve the FedEx hub. Northbound morning trips will also serve the FedEx hub.  Route 35- From Belz Blvd, continue across Third Street, right Florida, meeting the Routes 12 and 17 at Florida and South Parkway to provide East/West service from that location. Right on South Parkway to the existing routing.

Route 69- Saturday only, Loop east of American Way Transit Center operating on Cottonwood Road will be discontinued. PROPOSED Schedules will be available on October 16 at www.matatransit.com or by email upon request.

Requests for additional information or for special language or accessibility accommodations can be made by contacting MATA at 901-274-6282 or publiccomments@matatransit.com. Written comments can be submitted until 11 a.m. on Thursday, October 22, 2015 and can be mailed to 1370 Levee Road, Memphis, TN  38108; e-mailed to publiccomments@matatransit.com; or faxed to 901-722-7123.

While not required, in an effort to improve communications between MATA and our valued customers, a public meeting will be held at Central Station, 545 South Main Street, on Monday, October 19, 2015 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. It will be an open house format with MATA representatives on hand to discuss individual concerns. 

MATA’s Board of Commissioners will review and consider the comments and address the service changes and effective date at the October 26, 2015 Board meeting. The meeting will be held at 3:30 p.m. in the Memphis Public Library at 3030 Poplar Ave.

Verify your address with TennCare

A note from Hope Johnson:

People on TennCare or any of the Medicare Savings Programs (QMB, SLMB) need to call TN Health Connection to verify their correct address.  THC is starting to send out recertification letters to everyone.  Anyone who doesn't respond, will get cut off.

The Bureau of TennCare is currently working to redetermine eligibility for our members.  This year’s redetermination process will look different than in previous years due to CMS allowing states to use several options for streamlining the eligibility redetermination process.

In May and September the state redetermined eligibility for approximately 720,000 individuals through the first phase of this streamlined process.  In Phase 1, TennCare performed a SNAP match in cooperation with the Department of Human Services.  We were able to redetermine eligibility for this population using SNAP data that was available to us.  Most of these individuals were provided notice in May that they had been redetermined eligible and their TennCare would continue.  A second smaller group were notified in September.  No members lost eligibility as part of Phase 1.

As Phase 2 of our redetermination process, TennCare will be sending notice to an additional group of selected members giving them the opportunity to self-attest that they have not had a change in circumstances since their last eligibility review.  These letters will be mailed in October, November and December.  Individuals can complete the form and fax or mail it to TennCare to complete the redetermination process.  No members will lose eligibility as part of Phase 2.

We ask for your help in working with your clients to submit these notices back to TennCare.  It is especially    important that all notices are returned to the address and/or fax number noted on the notice.  As a reminder, these are individual notices, so each family member will receive their own form to fill out and send back in.

Phase 3 of the redetermination process will start December 1st.  This step will be familiar to most people since it is similar to the historic redetermination that has been performed by TennCare.  Individuals due for redetermination, whose eligibility was not redetermined in phase 1 or 2 will be mailed a renewal packet and asked to complete the packet and return it to TennCare within 30 days. The returned information will be reviewed and the member will be provided notice whether they are still eligible for TennCare.  If they are determined not to be eligible or they do not respond to the notice, they will receive advance notice of termination.

We ask for your help in working with your clients to submit the requested documentation to the specified address or fax number within the appropriate timeline.

Tennessee Division of Health Care Finance & Administration
310 Great Circle Rd  |  Nashville, TN, 37243 T: 615-507-6459  |  tn.gov/tenncar