Grantee produced

Support groups are recognized as a valuable psychosocial dynamic to promote insight unique to personal circumstances. Individuals who have similar life experiences can honestly relate with a “been there, done that, still here” testimony. The following information will review the psychosocial importance, the developmental process, and the maintenance of support groups. Professionals working in any specialized area are often asked about support groups and are called upon to implement such groups.

Using data from the National Household Travel Survey, the Small Urban and Rural Transit Center has released a report that examines the travel behavior and mobility of older adults, people with disabilities, individuals in low-income households, and people in rural areas. NHTS data on driving, mode choice, use of public transportation, and issues and concerns regarding transportation are highlighted.

This document aims to guide providers of self-management education (SME) chronic condition programs in efforts to assure high-quality services are available over the long-term. This guide is a synthesis of practical experience and evidence-based strategies to help SME providers achieve sustainability. It provides a process for exploring critical issues in the areas of revenue, marketing, referral networking, service operations, evaluation, community support, advocacy, and resource linkages.

The Toolkit was designed to help hospitals and community partners address the needs of people with chronic conditions by improving self-management skills. This toolkit provides information on the benefits of starting and sustaining a Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP), helpful sources and materials implementing the CDSMP.

This report presents budgeting and contractual strategies used in Arizona, Hawaii, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin. In different ways, these states have made substantial progress in transforming their LTSS systems by developing flexible accounting policies that have reduced NF utilization and captured the savings to support their HCBS programs.

This brief reviews Medicaid’s importance and limitations when it comes to long-term care and makes the case for strengthening Medicaid’s safety net in one of two ways—assumption of full federal responsibility for Medicare beneficiaries who also rely on Medicaid (so-called “dual eligibles”) or an enhanced federal match for Medicaid long-term care services.

How does the state of Virginia measure how financial incentives affect disabled workers' decision to work? To learn more, read this report which features a model used to predict behavior of individuals, budget costs, and related savings of the Virginia Medicaid Works program, along with the well-being of affected individuals. This frame-work will also be used to predict how proposed changes in the Medicaid Works program would affect behavior.

How is the state of Virginia working to better understand its Medicaid program's efficacy? This report aims to develop a framework to understand the incentive effects of the Virginia Medicaid Works program that provides disabled Medicaid recipients the option to earn higher income while ensuring continued Medicaid coverage. By decoupling labor market decisions from Medicaid receipt, the primary objective of the Works program is to increase the employment and earnings of disabled recipients.

This study evaluated impacts on employment and earnings levels among people with disabilities of eliminating the cash cliff aspect of Social Security Disability Insurance, in which beneficiaries lose their entire cash benefit when their earnings become too high. Findings demonstrated that an SSDI offset can have a significant effect on the SGA earnings rate of beneficiaries, but that the effect may be limited to a subset of individuals, and may be enhanced when paired with healthcare protection.

The Utah Medicaid Work Incentive (MWI) Program began in 2001 as a way to encourage low income people with disabilities to work without fear of losing needed health care services. The program allows people with disabilities to earn above the poverty level to have access to Medicaid as long as their income remains low. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of MWI policy on recipients’ earnings, Medicaid expenditures, and use of other public benefits.