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Under a Cooperative Agreement with AoA, the Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging convened a panel of experts on strengthening the LTC workforce. The experts were organized to address five areas of concern: supply of DCWs and family caregivers; retention of these helpers; readiness or capacity of these helpers to provide care; quality of care they provide in terms of outcomes for those in their care; and the impact of the ACA, including the CLASS Act, on family caregivers.

The Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging sponsored PPAR’s Winter/Spring 2010 issue. It includes seven articles written by national experts describing recent and notable changes in LTC policy, with its increasing emphasis on HCBS services. An introductory essay provides a 30-year review of the evolutionary process of LTC. Consumer-directed initiatives, caregiver and workforce issues, maturation of the service delivery system, and a review of recent state-level initiatives are discussed.

Health Affairs has published a special issue devoted entirely to long-term care. Review articles on providers, issues related to Medicare and Medicaid, transition and diversion programs, new state strategies to meet LTC needs, quality of care, demographic issues, policy and financing, health spending, caregivers and the workforce, and palliative care and end-of-life.

Recently enacted health care reform has a number of implications for PAS users. The Center for Personal Assistance Services has compiled a number of publications on this topic. The information is divided into the categories of: overall, long-term care, Medicaid, Other and Implications. A link to the full text of the Act is included as well as a summary and timeline of the Act

This brief underscores the role of asset development for individuals with disabilities given that they are more likely to be unemployed and live in poverty than any other demographic in the US. It describes some of the interaction between asset accumulation and disability benefits programs, particularly SSDI and SSI, and presents information on Individual Development Account programs and strategies by which Assets for Independence grantees can improve access to IDAs for people with disabilities.

This is the fourth in a series of briefs that focus on affordable housing strategies and state and local partnerships that increase housing opportunities for workers with disabilities. Asset-building strategies that can support affordable rental and homeownership occupancy are discussed, as well as shared equity strategies such as cooperative housing and community land trusts. Also find a link to the entire brief series.

Find a summary of the CLASS Act developed by the AARP Public Policy Institute. The legislation creates a voluntary national insurance program for long-term services and supports (LTSS) to help address the financial challenges many American households face when confronted with the high cost of LTSS. This fact sheet succinctly answers questions such as who can participate in CLASS, what are the benefit amounts, how are premiums computed and how CLASS interacts with Medicaid.

Explore the use of social marketing principles to enhance enrollment in the C&C Demonstration and Evaluation (CCDE). In this study, focus groups were conducted in Arkansas and Florida. Several lessons emerged from the findings including the importance of conducting process evaluation activities early during program implementation, carefully selecting and training personnel to conduct outreach and enrollment activities, and developing specific messages to include in marketing the cash option.

Predictors of service use was examined among four in-home and two community-based services. Results showed that race did not have a significant effect on service use, but gender had a significant effect for some services. The results indicated the importance of social supports and structural factors in predicting use. Implications for policies and practice to improve community outreach, access and utilization of services by different racial groups of elders are discussed.

Read about the implementation of the Workforce Inclusion Act of 2002 in CA. This study examined the use of In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) in the workplace and barriers to its use. Information was collected on the impact of state budget cuts and program changes made for fiscal year 2009-10. A policy recommendation was made to modify IHSS by giving consumers more flexibility in using their IHSS hours with less task-specificity, and increasing consumer-direction of their authorized hours.