Aging/Older Adults

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.

Where are the ADRC pilot sites and what have they accomplished? A new handout provides an easy overview of the projects and their target population(s). A new one page fact sheet explains recent activities based on information provided by grantees through the Semi Annual Reporting Tool (SART).

This website is designed to provide information on the latest research, model programs, and policy issues pertaining to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It describes training and technical assistance opportunities, conferences, and available resources. These resources are available in various formats (written products, videotapes, CDs) and many can be downloaded at no cost. Register for their ADDVantage Newsletter.

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.

The New Mexico legislature has passed the \"Money Follows the Person Act\" (MFP) allowing people with disabilities of all ages to choose community living. The passage of MFP dove-tails with federal legislation signed into law by President Bush in the Omnibus Budget bill. The New Mexico legislation will allow a person in a nursing facility to choose community living, and have the money that has supported the person in the facility to follow the person to the community.

Who are dual eligibles and how do they qualify for Medicaid? This fact sheet describes the over 7.5 million “dual eligibles,” the low-income elderly and persons with disabilities who are enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid, why this population needs Medicaid, what services they receive from Medicaid, and the current policy challenges related to dual eligibles, including the new Medicare prescription drug benefit.

Can agency consolidation bring about consistent policymaking and focus long term care services on persons with disabilities rather than on program providers? This AARP Public Policy Institute Issue Paper provides readers with an examination of a consolidated agency approach, by studying agency structure, reviewing the arguments for consolidation, and the barriers to achieving it. It also reviews several states accomplishing consolidation and a checklist of steps towards such a model.

Informal caregiving has long been the most common source of long-term care for older persons with disability however; a number of factors such as demographic trends may reduce the supply of traditional family caregivers and changes in the LTC delivery system indicate the need to track the changes. This paper examines key trends in family caregiving patterns. The findings should help to inform public policy debates and the data provides evidence of the need to provide adequate long-term services.

This one-page consumer satisfaction survey instrument is used by the Maryland Access Point (MAP) ADRC program. The protocol and survey tool are available. The survey was also administered on-line. The consumer satisfaction survey is just one component of the MAP evaluation.

The following Memorandum of Understanding and Memorandum of Agreement are examples between agencies including the Maryland Departments of Aging, Disabilities, Health and Mental Hygiene, and Human Resources and the Office on Aging. Use the state-level or local country forms as templates to creating your own agreements.