State/Agency Information

This document describes the State of Illinois’s plan on aging in accordance to Older Americans Act guidelines. The plan describes the mission, organization, and strategies of Illinois’s Department on Aging to coordinate services for older adults. Amongst some of the goals for FY10-12 is to rebalance long-term care to expand home and community-based services, expand transportation for seniors, promote wellness, and advocate for and protect elder rights.

Making a Difference is a quarterly magazine of the Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities. The Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities collaborates with Georgia’s citizens, public and private advocacy organizations and policymakers to positively influence public policies that enhance the quality of life for people with disabilities and their families.

Determining local business needs is an integral part of providing effective employment opportunities to the disabled. The District of Colombia used Constant Contact, an online email marketing tool, to survey employers from various sectors in the area. The attached employer survey, results and summary could serve as a template for other states seeking to gauge local employer needs.

The purpose of this study was to describe the two ways in which Medicaid offers personal care services to low-income Americans: Medicaid Title XIX Personal Care Services (PCS) optional state plan benefit; and the Medicaid 1915(c) Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) waivers program. A summary of the findings of this study are presented here as well as the article that appeared in the Health Care Financing Review, Summer 2001.

This innovative disability and health data tool uses data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) to identify disparities in health between adults with and without disabilities. Find data on a range of health indicators for your state and compare the health of adults with and without disabilities and certain health conditions. Maps, data tables and state profiles are available.

This bulletin reviews policy when Medicaid funding is available for certain administrative costs related to activities conducted by state Long Term Care Ombudsman (LTCO) programs that benefit the state's Medicaid program. It also summarizes the basic requirements for Medicaid administrative claiming of LTCO program activities and provides a link where states and LTCO programs can find more information regarding specific program activities that may be eligible for Medicaid administrative funding.

This summary draws attention to some of the most important aspects of CMS’s recently released guidance for states and stakeholders on the use of managed care for long-term services and supports (MLTSS) as well as transitioning LTSS providers into managed care systems and developing MLTSS programs. CMS identified 10 important elements that should be incorporated into managed LTSS and this document can assist consumers and their representatives in understanding these elements.

This issue brief uses the most recent comprehensive data, from 2009, to examine the characteristics and costs of dual-eligible beneficiaries. The report also examines the different payment systems that Medicare and Medicaid use to fund care for dual-eligible beneficiaries and recent efforts at the federal and state levels to integrate those payment systems and coordinate the care between both programs. Given the high cost of dual-eligibles, legislative solutions are reviewed.

Few employer-sponsored and private insurance plans offer the range of services that workers with disabilities may need. Medicaid Buy-In programs are a viable option that allows these workers to receive needed services without spending down for Medicaid. This report describes findings from a study of characteristics and service utilization of higher-income enrollees compared to regular Medicaid enrollees. Providing these programs may keep higher-income workers with disabilities employed.

The effective management of patients' complex illnesses across providers, settings, and systems places extraordinary demands on primary care providers, especially those that work in resource-limited small or rural practices. This issue brief identifies eight states that have adopted strategies to build practice capacity to care for high-need Medicaid beneficiaries through the development of community health teams and reports early data to inform other states thinking about this model of care.