Long-Term Care

The AARP Public Policy Institute released a new report conducted by Truven Health Analytics. The two part study examined Medicaid Managed Long Term Services and Supports program contracts in 18 different states for older adults and people with physical disabilities and case studies of new care coordination models in Ohio and Illinois. The findings indicate that states need care coordination and that these care coordinators provide crucial support for consumers and their family caregivers.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report and the white paper commissioned by the National Interprofessional Initiative on Oral Health both examine the wide disparities in oral health due to lack of access. The U.S. fails to provide proper access for ongoing and preventative oral health care needs. A push must be made to integrate dental care as a component of primary care. There is also a focus on the impact and burden of oral diseases and their effect on quality of life.

Adult day services (ADS)--a non-residential service provided outside an individual's home for less than a full day--provides direct care to older adults and younger adults with physical disabilities. This report provides information about each state's approach to regulating this key community service. The report details different models, forms of regulation, and funding sources used by states to run ADS programs.

This study provides insights into higher-hour caregivers (at least 21 hours of care a week), caregivers ages 75 and older, multicultural caregivers, and the challenges facing caregivers in the workplace. While the “typical” family caregiver is a 49-year-old woman who cares for a relative, caregivers on the whole are becoming much more diverse. The study found nearly a quarter of America’s caregivers are millennials between the ages of 18 and 34 and are equally likely to be male or female.

This primer describes long-term services and supports (LTSS) delivery and financing in the U.S. and highlights covered services and supports, types of care providers and care settings, beneficiary subpopulations, costs and financing models, quality improvement efforts, and recent LTSS reform initiatives.

This report addresses: 1) federal programs that fund HCBS and supports for older adults, in particular in-home and nutrition services, affordable housing, and transportation; 2) how HCBS and supports are planned and delivered in selected localities; and 3) agencies’ efforts to promote a coordinated federal system of HCBS for older adults.

This report reflects on Medicaid’s accomplishments and challenges and considers the issues on the horizon that will influence the course of this major health coverage and financing program moving forward. The report follows Medicaid’s evolution, including major legislative changes and other inflection points in the program’s history and analyzes how Medicaid threads through our health care system today and the measure of its impact.

Person-centered planning encompasses the idea that the individual is at the heart of all decisions about services, supports, and care. This report analyzes how well states are implementing a 2014 rule that creates the right to person-centered care planning for Medicaid consumers of Long-Term Services and Supports. The report is a tool for health care providers, plan administrators, and advocates to help them understand the scope of the rules and be able to identify provision shortfalls.

This report details results of a survey administered to Adult Service providers to learn more about the locations, funding sources, and supports that these programs provide to seniors and people with disabilities. The report demonstrates how Adult Services include a wide array of services, including a combination of social and medical supports. ADvancing States is concerned that new CMS regulations may reduce the number of available providers in the Medicaid program.

The Money Follows the Person (MFP) demonstration aims to give Medicaid beneficiaries living in long-term care facilities more choice about where they live and receive services and to strengthen state systems of LTSS to serve more people in community settings. This report examines how six MFP grantees (MO, LA, NE, NJ, OH, IL) are serving populations with diverse needs in the community and the factors that have contributed to their strong performance on key outcome measures.