Long Term Services and Supports

The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care recently published the Fall 2023 issue of “The Resident Advocate,” their newsletter for long-term care residents containing news and information on rights, care issues, and updates on national policy. This issue includes: Tips for living with a roommate in a long-term care facility, Staffing issues in long-term care and how you can advocate for change, Steps to take when there is a problem in your nursing home, Reminders for visiting long-term care facilities during the holidays, and Participating in this year’s Residents’ Rights Month.

On Thursday, September 28, the AARP Public Policy Institute released the 2023 edition of its LTSS State Scorecard, which uses data from a wide range of sources to describe how state long-term services and supports (LTSS) systems are performing. Released every three years since 2011, the Scorecard measures LTSS systems across five different dimensions: affordability and access; choice of setting and provider; safety and quality; support for family caregivers; and community integration. The upcoming release of this year's LTSS Scorecard will also explore new focus areas, including equity, workforce, and the impact of COVID-19. Furthermore, the 2023 Scorecard will introduce "Innovation Points," a novel feature offering an innovative approach..

This promising practice profile describes the Rhode Island No Wrong Door system including key partners, the state’s long-term services and supports interagency reform initiative, and the state’s approach to person-centered options counseling. The profile includes links to important resources such as the state’s Person-Centered Options Counseling Operational Manual and the No Wrong Door System Strategic Plan.

On June 7, Justice in Aging published an issue brief titled “An Equity Framework for Evaluating and Improving Medicaid Home and Community Based Services.” In recent decades, long-term care has shifted from institutional settings to home and community-integrated settings. While access to HCBS has been steadily increasing over time, systemic inequalities due to racism, sexism, ageism, classism, etc. have led to large disparities in HCBS for diverse communities. This issue brief evaluates several ways in which the current setup of HCBS can cause inequities to arise. This includes program design, provider availability, awareness of HCBS, implicit bias in services, and provision of HCBS...

The Administration for Community Living (ACL) is inviting input on its proposed updates to the regulations governing the Older Americans Act (OAA) program. The proposed rule addresses various emerging issues and seeks to provide clarity on requirements for programs authorized under Titles III (grants to state and community programs on aging), VI (grants to Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian grantees for supportive, nutrition, and caregiver services), and VII (allotments for vulnerable elder rights protection activities) of the OAA. By enhancing support for the national aging services network, the aim of these proposed updates is to improve program implementation and better serve older adults.

The United Health Foundation recently released the 2023 Senior Report, an annual review of the health of the nation’s older adults and a critical tool to help guide individuals, community leaders, and policymakers to make decisions that are informed by reliable data. The report highlights successes and challenges older adults face in a broad range of health measures to help provide a portrait of the health and well-being of older adults throughout the United States. To accomplish this, the 2023 Senior Report collects data on many health measures, including race/ethnicity, gender, rural/urban geography, income, education, and more.

The LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston has entered the second phase of a two-year study funded by the National Institutes of Health. The study aims to develop and test the feasibility of an intervention called "LDCare," which was designed to support long-distance caregivers of older adults with dementia who receive home care. In the second phase, researchers will examine the feasibility of conducting the LDCare intervention by sampling a group of 40 long-distance caregivers and their care recipients. At present, 17 caregivers are enrolled in the study...

This report is the most comprehensive and representative assessment of self-reported outcomes among older adults and people with physical disabilities receiving publicly funded LTSS since 2018. These data were collected from 13,663 people between June 2021 and July 2022. The sample includes individuals from 15 regionally representative states and a variety of LTSS programs, including: Medicaid HCBS, Nursing Facilities, and Older Americans Act recipients.

The National Indian Council on Aging has released a toolkit dedicated to increasing awareness and knowledge of the needs of American Indian and Alaska Native persons living with disabilities. The resource is divided into sections for healthy living, education, independent living, vocational rehabilitation and employment resources, assistive technology, housing and facilities, and transportation. It includes suggestions for improving services, providing protections, and utilizing resources in local tribal communities for people with disabilities. Additional information provides overviews on federal disabilities laws, initiatives, agencies, and organizations that support work with Native individuals with disabilities and communities.

The National Task Group on Intellectual Disabilities and Dementia Practices (NTG), and the Health Matters Program at the University of Illinois Chicago issued a new brief “Over Medication of Older Adults with Intellectual Disability: Risks for Brain Health”. The advisory cautions readers that arise from over medication and suggestions for steps that can be taken to prevent the over- medication of older adults.