All States/Territories

Have you seen the new site sponsored by CMS? This space offers a resource center for states, up to date information about the affordable care act and additional federal policy guidance. The waiver section organizes information by state, program name, waiver authority and status of a application. This chart gives an overview of the four primary types of waivers and demonstration projects: Section 1115, Section 1915(b) Managed Care, Section 1915(c) HCBS, and Concurrent Section 1915(b) and 1915(c).

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.

This manual is meant to help community-based programs assess their individual needs, plan & implement volunteer respite programs and assist state Lifespan Respite programs as they address the requirements in the Lifespan Respite Care Act to build respite capacity through volunteer training & recruitment. Review text boxes throughout the document with resources for reading further, highlights of National Volunteer Respite Initiatives plus examples of local volunteer respite programs.

Review the data products and publications from a new survey about Residential Care Facilities. Included are residential care facilities; assisted living residences; board & care homes; congregate care; enriched housing programs; homes for the aged; personal care homes; & shared housing establishments that are licensed, registered, listed, certified, or otherwise regulated by a state. NSRCF is designed to produce national estimates of facilities and their residents.

States serve a large number of people with dementia & caregivers in their Aging Networks & LTSS systems. This involves accommodating the needs of a population experiencing a variety of physical, cognitive, & behavioral symptoms from dementia, along with other medical conditions. This brief discusses why states should be concerned about dementia capability in their LTSS systems, describes the components of model dementia-capable systems, & reports how states have addressed dementia capability.

When assessing the needs of persons with dementia and caregivers in the community, it is important to understand the number of persons affected and their unique needs for services and programs. This toolkit complements the issue brief titled Making the Long-Term Services and Supports System Work for People With Dementia and Their Caregivers by identifying resources that states and communities can use to design initiatives to ensure that programs are dementia-capable.

In the context of “rebalancing” efforts, the authors describe flexible accounting as budgeting practices and contractual language that incentivize the use of less expensive noninstitutional programs and use savings to expand lower-cost services to further reduce the state’s use of institutional care. The authors offer recommendations for California and pay special attention to flexible accounting in Medicaid managed LTSS and identify examples of flexible accounting practices.

This report reviews the available literature & conducted interviews with people with Alzheimer’s & other dementias who live alone, caregivers, health care & social service professionals to obtain their views about the need and effective ways to meet those needs. Programs are also described that have been tested by community agencies as well as discussions related to public policy and practice implications.

State and local disability employment services are operated by a number of different public & nonprofit agencies. Organizations find it necessary to access funds from more than one program, agency, or funding stream. As a result, many program administrators & staff face the challenge of developing strategies to braid disability employment funding. This report profiles four programs that have implemented braided funding strategies to support hiring initiatives with employer partners.

State Medicaid agencies fund supports & services for individuals with disabilities. As national public policy recognizes & emphasizes the ability of individuals with disabilities to work, states are integrating employment supports into the continuum of long-term care in Medicaid. This brief discusses federal legislative & regulatory framework for funding employment supports in Medicaid, highlights examples of state innovations & best practices to promote positive employment outcomes.