Truven Health Analytics (formerly Thomson Reuters)

On Monday May 8, 2006, CMS hosted a New Freedom Initiative Open Door Forum that focused on Section 6086 of the Deficit Reduction Act. During the call CMS reviewed the differences between how home and community based services can be provided through the State plan and the more traditional 1915c waivers. This chart summarizes CMS’s overview of the DRA provisions.

This monograph discusses program design considerations to assist as states move toward greater individuality and flexibility in the provision of services and supports. The paper outlines topics to consider when expanding opportunities for participants to choose and direct individual who provide assistance, including the risks/benefits arrangements, provider qualifications, training, person-centered planning, the case manager role, and safeguards to prevent abuse, neglect and exploitation.

Gathering information from waiver participants can be costly and time intensive, and is not always necessary. Depending upon the size and scope of the state’s waiver program, it is often sufficient and more cost effective to draw representative samples. This guide is designed to provide states with practical information about sampling techniques, what to consider when deciding whether to sample and the strategies to employ in quality management work.

In 2001, CMS worked with state agency associations to initiate the National Quality Inventory Project (NQIP) with a goal to obtain baseline information about state HCBS waiver program QA/I systems. Through this project an extensive survey of state QA/I systems was conducted. This report describes NQIP, summarizes and discusses the results of this first-time, nationwide systematic survey of state waiver program QA/I systems. The report also includes recommendations for CMS follow-up.

The target population for this instrument is adults with acquired brain injuries. It was developed with assistance from brain injury waiver staff in several states and combining elements of the original PES E/D & MRDD tools. The four domains include: program supports; choice and control; respect and dignity; and community activities. Two additional sets of questions, covering community integration in greater depth and ADL/IADL unmet needs, are included for waiver programs where applicable.

This policy brief is one of five commissioned by the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation on Medicaid eligibility policies for long-term care benefits. This brief describes the procedures used by the state of Massachusetts in the administration of its Medicaid Estate Recovery program, with a focus on the procedures used by the State in imposing Medicaid liens on real property.

This policy brief is one of five commissioned by the Dept of Health & Human Services, , and presents the fundamentals of Medicaid liens -- what they are, why they are permitted, and how they are applied by state Medicaid programs. Liens are a tool that states may use to ensure their right to recover past Medicaid spending on the property owner’s behalf when he or she, or certain close relatives, no longer needs the property.

This policy brief is one of five commissioned by the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation on Medicaid eligibility policies for long-term care benefits. This brief outlines the Medicaid rules that affect community spouses of nursing home residents and widows or widowers of deceased nursing home residents.

This policy brief is one of five commissioned by the Dept of Health & Human Services, and provides an overview of state Medicaid Estate Recovery programs, which enable states to recoup public spending for Medicaid long-term care recipients from the estates of those recipients after their death.

This policy brief is one of five commissioned by the Dept of Health & Human Services and provides a synopsis of how the home is treated in determining Medicaid eligibility for recipients of long-term care services and the circumstances under which Medicaid may recover spending from equity held in real property. Broad flexibility is conferred on states to implement generic Federal Medicaid rules, resulting in considerable variations in how homes are treated in specific circumstances.