Mathematica Policy Research

MFP demonstration supports states' efforts to help Medicaid beneficiaries living in long-term care institutions transition back to community-based residences and make LTSS more accessible. Using nursing home assessment data, this report compared needs of MFP participants with a cohort of Medicaid long-stay nursing home residents who transitioned to HCBS in grantee states but were not enrolled in MFP, and a cohort of long-stay residents in MFP states who did not transition.

The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) is the largest source of federally-funded employment and training services. WIA allows states to apply for waivers of WIA regulations to provide greater flexibility in serving the needs of local populations. The Department of Labor approved more than 750 state-requested waivers of statutory and regulatory requirements between 2008-2010. This report evaluates selected waivers during the time period to examine the possible effects of waiver implementation.

In recent years, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has placed a greater emphasis on increasing employment among people who receive federal disability benefits while also reducing their reliance on those benefits. SSA’s efforts have led to a growing interest among policymakers in exactly how many disability beneficiaries forgo cash benefits because they are working and how long they are able to remain off cash benefits. This brief summarizes findings from a longer report.

The Money Follows the Person (MFP) Demonstration supports state efforts to help Medicaid beneficiaries living in long-term care facilities transition back to community-based residences and to make community-based long-term care services and supports more accessible. This report uses aggregate data from annual financial reports and service claims records submitted by grantees to examine the costs and types of community-based services received by participants in the MFP program.

In 2008, Congress revised the regulations for Ticket to Work, a federal program created to improve incentives and supports for people who receive disability benefits to seek employment. This issue brief discusses how Ticket to Work participation by service providers and beneficiaries has changed under the revised regulations. It also describes providers' early experiences with these regulations.

Despite decades of increases in program participation and spending, the disability support infrastructure in the United States and the economic independence of people with disabilities have eroded. Rather than tighten eligibility or reduce program benefits, this issue brief proposes gradual programmatic reforms and evidence-based structural changes to improve the economic status of Americans with disabilities.

Enrollment in MFP continued to grow steadily with 15,818 cumulative transitions to the community as of June 30, 2011, a 33 percent increase from the end of 2010. The states reported 3,722 new transitions during the six-month period from January to June 2011, 9 percent more than in the previous six-month period. The report provides an overview of state MFP grantee progress on key performance indicators and challenges states reported when implementing their transition programs.

Existing national disability-related survey & administrative data are limited in their ability to meet needs of federal programs & policy makers. One potential response to these shortcomings is the fielding of a national disability survey. This report was prepared to assess the need for developing & fielding another national disability survey data collection effort. It presents findings from one of the project’s major activities designed to review the disability-related information.

As state and federal agencies strive to meet the growing needs of people with disabilities while using fewer resources, better disability data are needed for monitoring and improving the health, economic status, and overall well-being of this population. The report identifies limitations in national survey data on disability and outlines a wide range of potential short- and long-term options for addressing them, including developing and fielding a national disability survey.

Two reports look at costs, services, characteristics, and impacts of the Work Incentives Planning and Assistance program, which aims to inform beneficiaries with disabilities about work incentive programs, help them increase employment, and reduce their dependence on benefits. The program is serving a select group of beneficiaries who are actively working, seeking employment, using the SSA work incentive provisions, and leaving the disability rolls at relatively high rates.