Money Follows the Person

Thirteen states and the District of Columbia will get more than $547 million in grants over five years to build Medicaid long-term care programs that will help keep people at home and out of institutions. This “Money Follows the Person” initiative was included in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA), currently being implemented by CMS. The press release lists the states and the amount of money committed over the next five years.

The Georgia QA/QI Real Choice Systems Change grant employed a variety of person centered planning (PCP) techniques in order to change services to fit the needs of consumers. This document is a variety of flyers and notices that the grantee used in order to recruit consumers to participate in its PCP focus and planning groups.

As part of the Georgia QA/QI Real Choice Systems Change grant, an evaluation of the Person-Centered Planning (PCP) program was conducted. Part of this includes the outline for planning and creating PCP groups, and a list of resources for effective use of PCP. Also included is the final survey given to PCP participants and information on sustaining person-centered planning.

The 7th CMS New Freedom Initiative Conference was held March 5-7 in Baltimore. Presentations are available in both PDF and text formats. “Choice and Independence” is a key pillar of CMS’ vision for a person-centered long term services and supports system for the future. The 2007 conference focused on the policies, programs, and tools -including opportunities authorized by the Deficit Reduction Act– available to shape and carry out the vision.

The Compendium contains basic information about each of the Real Choice Systems Change Grant awards in FY03–FY04 plus the Family to Family and Systems Transformation Grantees awarded in FY05 and FY06. The Compendium will help Grantees identify others with similar goals and activities. Learn more about how the 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. The sixth edition replaces all previous editions.

CMS awarded Money Follows the Person awards to 17 states and another 21 states may receive awards in the near future. Supporting individuals in institutions to move to the community is a critical component of MFP. Transition coordination, relocation coordination, supports coordination and case management are terms often used to describe this complex activity. This brief reviews optional targeted case management services, 1915(c) home and community based waivers and administrative activity.

This document summarizes the meeting on Money Follows the Person: Financing and Budgeting, convened by Rutgers Center for State Health Policy and the National Academy for State Health Policy, held on September 11-13, 2006 in Olympia, Washington. Participants discussed budgeting and financing approaches states can use to assist their residents in moving from institutions to community settings. This document will provide a brief description of the meeting and a guide to resources that were shared.

Legisbrief is a briefing papers that offers important issues of the day. This volume provides an overview of the new demonstration initiative entitled \"Money Follows the Person.\" States now have additional support from the federal government. The new federal demonstration provides new financial incentives for states to initiate system of flexible spending for long-term services and supports that enables available funds to move with the individual to the most appropriate and preferred setting.

The goal of the Massachusetts Real Choice Pilot Project was to increase the quality of life and independence of participant through cost-effective flexible funding. Two pilot projects were developed under the grant to serve adults with disabilities. Attached documents include the pilot project summary, the request for proposals for organizations to participate in the pilot project, methodology of the project, and a descriptive presentation.

Part of the Massachusetts Real Choice grants included community and consumer collaboration and input. The presentations work to introduce how the Real Choice grant aims to work on collaboration, integration collaboration into the pilot project, and review how consumer perspectives were used in the grant. Review the work and ideas on consumer involvement, the pilot evaluation and the consumer experience project.