Sustainability

The Federal Partners in Transition, an interagency workgroup, has published a strategy report to ensure that federal programs and resources effectively support American young adults with disabilities in reaching their goals of independence. This report identifies five outcome goals to operate across agency boundaries in an effort to enhance coordination and improve compatible policies among the multiple federal programs that support transitioning youth with disabilities and their families.

Healthcare providers, payers, and CBOs have historically operated as separate care delivery systems in which the responsibility for communicating and sharing information among providers has been on the client. A follow up to N3C's symposium at the 2014 ASA's Aging in America conference, this brief presents insights and actionable approaches that attempt to close the gap between fragmented and patient-centered care to evolve with the market and better provide for our communities.

Community-based organizations will be notably impacted by States' implementation of MLTSS programs. Case studies on ombudsman programs and care/service coordination–culled from the MLTSS intensive at the 2013 HCBS Conference–complement the issue brief on CBO readiness. The ombudsman case studies highlight activities in Wisconsin, Hawaii, & Minnesota, while the care/service coordination case studies discuss CBO experiences in Massachusetts & Ohio. Both studies feature successful CBO practices.

After a decade of changes in federal law, regulation, and policy designed to promote the growth of publicly funded participant-directed long-term services and supports (PD-LTSS) programs, the number of these programs has grown considerably. This article details the process for developing this data resource, describes some of the major characteristics of PD-LTSS programs in the United States, and discusses possible implications and areas for future research.

Medicaid LTSS is not a system that was purposefully built, but rather one that evolved over time out of legacy programs that were designed to meet the needs of different populations, differing state approaches to policy, court decisions, client advocacy, and changing ideas about where and how LTSS should be provided. MACPAC’s future work on Medicaid LTSS will focus on building a better understanding and moving policy in the direction of a more efficient and effective system of LTSS.

In this brief, the authors summarize key features of the Social Security Disability Insurance program and describe some of the salient issues policymakers will need to consider to address the projected depletion of the SSDI Trust Fund in 2016. They also discuss the eligibility criteria for the program, benefit levels, and beneficiaries' ability to work.