Long-Term Care

On March 31, 2006, HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt outlined new flexibilities available to states under the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) of 2005 (Pub.L. No. 109-171). Find out how the new DRA provisions may link with other options available under Medicaid to transform long-term care to person-centered care and to expand coverage for individuals with disabilities, increase access to community supports, and promote personal responsibility, independence, and choice.

The Compendium contains basic information about each of the Real Choice Systems Change Grantees. The Compendium will help you learn more about how these grants will be used to allow more people of all ages with a disability or long term illness to live and participate in their communities. Real Choice Systems Change Grantees will also find the Compendium useful to identify other Grantees with similar goals and activities. The fifth edition of the Compendium replaces all previous editions.

Essentials of Housing Teleconference was held with Guest Person, Stephen Gold, regarding a systems change strategy to provide training with regards to the largest housing programs in the nation with a focus on recipients of SSI. These included: 1) low-income housing tax credit program, with nearly $600 billion available annually for units, and 2) the HOME Partnership program, with $1.4 billion available annually. Jay Klein facilitated this call.

This is the final report and recommendations from the Colorado Quality for Equality (Q4E) Committee, a collaborative process involving Medicaid consumers, Department staff, providers, regulators, advocates and other interested stakeholders. The Q4E Committee's work found three recommended activities including Complaints Program Website Improvements, Case Management Client Satisfaction Survey and Secret Shopper Pilot Project.

What kinds of items would people enrolled in Medicaid like to save for? This is a draft version of an upcoming survey created by the Wisconsin LIFE Accounts grantees. The purpose of this questionnaire is to learn how consumers are managing their Medicaid services and to gather opinions on what items people choose to save for to improve their quality of life. A LIFE Account is a savings program that would allow you to save more than the current $2,000 asset level for Medicaid.

Research findings show that older workers are interested in direct care jobs and that long-term care employers view older workers as being able to provide better quality care - presenting one potential solution to a workforce shortage. This study was the first to explore the feasibility of engaging older workers. Telephone interviews were conducted with almost 700 lower-income job seekers in the seven states. These findings show a real potential for hiring older persons as frontline workers.

This State Policy in Practice brief describes the process of sustaining Connecticut's nursing home transition program. Connecticut focused on bringing key stakeholders (including consumers) together and building evaluation into their efforts to make the case for obtaining state funding for the transition program. This brief is intended to help state policy and program leaders, advocates, and providers learn from their peers and colleagues across the states.

This State Policy in Practice brief describes Michigan's nursing home transition program and summarizes evaluation findings. The program has been sustained statewide through the addition of transition services to Michigan's 1915c waiver for the aged and disabled. This brief is intended to help state policy and program leaders, advocates, and providers learn from their peers and colleagues across the states.

Long-term care providers are often skeptical of the value of engaging in government workforce development initiatives. This Issue Brief examines the reluctance to invest and highlights five examples of successful partnerships between employers and workforce development networks. Partnerships are seeking to change business as usual to improve the quality of care, increase the supply of direct care workers and promote greater workforce stability through higher retention and lower turnover.

This report provides a comparison of Medicare, Medicaid and State Child Health Insurance Program provisions contained in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (S. 1932) as amended and passed by the Senate. The report compares the bill's provisions with current law. This report will be updated. The sections that most pertain to providers of HCBS services are the Cash & Counseling section, the HCBS State Plan Option and the Money Follows the Person Demonstration.