Alabama

While long term care costs continue to rise nationally, the cost for in-home care is rising at a much slower pace. Complete national and state cost of care data can be found in the full report. Other reports include an Executive Summary of key findings, detailed methodology information and listings of counties involved in the survey. Also find an interactive map detailing costs within each state.

Find two fact sheets; the first presents occupational employment projections for the three job titles that make up the direct-care workforce: nursing assistants, home health aides, and personal and home care aides, and suggests that over the next decade, the nation’s direct-care workforce will constitute the largest, fastest-growing group of jobs in the country. The second provides a detailed overview of the demographic and economic characteristics of the direct-care workforce.

View an evaluation and grantee-written descriptions of Job Access and Reverse Commute (JARC) and New Freedom services for 2007 and 2008. JARC was established to address transportation challenges that welfare recipients and low-income individuals face in finding and keeping jobs. The New Freedom program was established to provide new public transportation services and alternatives to public transportation for people with disabilities.

Explore the website for an initiative designed to make the business case for employers to hire people with disabilities by providing them with information, tools to integrate people with disabilities into the workforce, and local resources to help them access this segment of the labor pool. The site includes individual state pages to connect interested businesses to each state’s resources for recruiting and hiring people with disabilities, and tools such as a Tax Incentives Tip Sheet.

People with disabilities having to choose between meaningful work and income, and access to health insurance and needed services, is a problem being addressed by an increasing number of states through the Medicaid Buy-In program. The state of Alabama created the policy paper attached below, outlining the policy objectives and proposed design of their program. It could be a useful resource for other states proposing a MIG program of their own.

Getting the word out to eligible enrollees as well as service providers is key to any MIG programs’ success. This can be complicated by the fact that there are often many programs working together. One way Alabama is keeping everyone informed is by distributing brochures about their MIG program that specifically highlight the partnerships between programs and address fears about benefits and health care. Attached are two such brochures. These could serve as samples for other states.

Are you an advocate, program administrator, service provider or caregiver fighting for your state and local caregiver support programs? This report includes background information, statistics, talking points and a list of additional resources to help make the case for maintaining public funding for crucial caregiver support services. Additional resources are listed, as well as a chart detailing prevalence and economic value of family caregiving by state.

AARP has produced a set of state-by-state briefs that highlight the most up-to-date long-term care data for each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Information is provided about each state's older population, long-term care funding, the cost and ranking of nursing homes, and long-term care insurance. The data utilized in these reports is the most recent publicly available data collected for all states.

How can constantly evolving MIG information be disseminated effectively? One way Alabama is doing this, is through their Medicaid Infrastructure Grant Newsletter. This archive of their 2009 newsletters outlines what's new, outreach and education inroads, current research studies and any changes in legislature. These newsletters provide helpful policy information which could prove useful to other states with MIG grants.

Designed to train CWICs and Case Managers, this collection of training materials gives an overview of the Alabama MIG grant, emphasizing cross-collaboration. Cross-collaboration explains how waiver service coordinators and CWICs can partner, as well as the process of making referrals, consent to share information requirements, and the role of MIG Staff. This emphasis on training collaboration could serve as a guide to other states with MIG programs looking to do the same.