Pennsylvania

Many states are undergoing long-term services & supports (LTSS) transformations. The lagging economy & increased demand for publicly funded LTSS are placing pressure on state policymakers to find solutions. As a result, many states either have or plan to implement Medicaid Managed LTSS, with 12 states having existing programs & another 11 with plans for implementation. Many states used the economic downturn as an opportunity to balance services from institutional to non-institutional settings.

Despite continued fiscal pressures on states, eligibility policies remained stable in nearly all state Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Programs during 2011. Moreover, many states used technology to increase program efficiency and streamline enrollment. The "maintenance of eligibility" requirement in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) played a key role in preserving coverage levels. Without it, more states likely would have limited eligibility or tightened enrollment procedures.

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.

State aging & disability agencies are operating in an era of state agency reorganization, re-conceptualization of state government, & restructuring of long-term services & supports delivery systems & financing. Key elements driving continued change include the economic environment, ACA implementation, uncertainty in the federal budget particularly with the failure of the Congressional Super Committee, changes in state level leadership, & the 2012 elections.

The latest HCBS data from The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured and the University of California at San Francisco analysis of The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Form 372 have been added and are available for all states and the nation for 2008. This website allows you to do an interactive search. Review the updated topics including total HCBS waivers, participants by waiver type, home health expenditures, and personal care participants.

Using six states as examples, this report illustrates how the DD Network partners, working with each other and in collaboration with state developmental disability agencies and others, have positively affected the lives of hundreds of thousands of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities - assuring their rightful place as full community members through advocacy, research, training, and programs that directly support individuals and families.

This report is the latest in a series on expenditures for Medicaid waivers authorized under Section 1915(c) of the Social Security Act, also known as home and community-based services waivers. For the first time, the tables include state-reported data for 1915(c) waiver services provided through managed care programs that are not identifiable in the state CMS 64 reports. Thomson Reuters collected these data for FY 2008 and FY 2009.

This document is the latest in a series of reports on Medicaid long-term services and supports (LTSS) spending. This year’s report contains newly available data and changes in the services that are included within LTSS. The report explains the changes, summarizes the data, and describes national trends.

The estimated economic value of family caregivers’ unpaid contributions contribution was approximately $450 billion in 2009. If family caregivers were no longer available, the economic cost to the U.S. health care and long-term services and supports systems would increase astronomically. This report updates national and individual state estimates of the economic value of family care using the most current available data, and provides recommendations for taking care of the caregivers.

How does the state of Pennsylvania direct consumers to resources on agencies and programs that help people with disabilities to work and improve their financial security? Peruse the website for information on Works for Me, a MIG program that guides consumers in finding jobs, obtaining training, keeping health insurance, getting assistive technology, and more.