Long-Term Care

This is the second “year in review” of developments in family caregiving, and there remains considerable room for improvement in how this nation supports the over 42 million family caregivers (and growing) who provide an estimated $450 billion in “free” care annually. The guide provides an overview of key developments in 2011. Two shorter versions, "45 Facts About Family Caregivers" and "27 Things You May not Know about Women and Caregiving" are also available.

Program provides guidance for a three-year effort to use OSHA outreach & inspections to reduce specific occupational hazards in nursing & residential care facilities. The Department of Labor identified the following hazards: Exposure to blood & other potentially infectious material; Exposure to other communicable diseases; Ergonomic stressors related to lifting patients; Workplace violence; Slips, trips, and falls; Exposure to hazardous chemicals & drugs.

Discussions were conducted to uncover lessons from abroad for Community Living Assistance Services & Supports (CLASS), a federally run voluntary public long-term care insurance program created under the Accountable Care Act of 2010. Discussions were conducted during an international conference of LTC experts, followed by personal meetings & individual correspondence. Findings indicate that programs in the five countries studied have lessons, both positive & negative, relevant to CLASS design.

The Lifespan Respite Care Act defines respite care as “planned or emergency careprovided to a child or adult with a special need in order to provide temporary relief to the family caregiver of that child or adult.” Respite services may be provided in a variety of settings, on a temporary basis, including the family home, adult day centers, respite centers, or residential care facilities. Respite is a key component of family support & home and community-based longterm services and supports.

These documents prove useful to State Lifespan Respite Programs, which are mandated by federal funding, to work in collaboration with a state respite coalition. Each fact sheet contains the following information on each state respite coalition: Start-Up Process and Coalition History; Structure; Staff; Funding; Membership; Meetings and Communication; Major Activities; Available Documents (Bylaws, Strategic Plans, Surveys, Brochures, etc.); and State Contact Information.

This resource for programs includes State Lifespan Respite Programs, that provide respite and are interested in developing & implementing participant-directed respite, especially through voucher programs. Included are: overview materials that provide content information regarding participant direction, examples from two states that currently implement participant-directed respite programs using a voucher system, important tax and financial information, & resources for additional materials.

The goals of the survey, which was sent to direct-care workers serving participants using the MI Choice SD option, were to: collect baseline demographic information on workers in the SD option; understand the motivations, job satisfaction, and training needs of workers providing services and supports to self-directed participants; and,identify strategies to strengthen and support the recruitment and retention of workers in self-directed programs.

This report describes the process of assembling and integrating Medicaid and Medicare data to study recipients of HCBS in California. Subsequent reports will describe disability levels and service use of HCBS users in Medi-Cal only and dual eligibles between 2005 and 2008.

This report presents budgeting and contractual strategies used in Arizona, Hawaii, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin. In different ways, these states have made substantial progress in transforming their LTSS systems by developing flexible accounting policies that have reduced NF utilization and captured the savings to support their HCBS programs.

This policy brief from Georgetown University, produced with support from The SCAN Foundation, reviews Medicaid's importance and current funding limitations for long-term care and makes the case for strengthening Medicaid two possible ways - full federal responsibility for Medicare beneficiaries who also rely on Medicaid or an enhanced federal match for Medicaid long-term care services. Each approach carries with it a federal commitment to bear the brunt of a growing elderly population.