Long Term Services and Supports

The Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program is a consumer advocacy program established by the Older Americans Act that aims to improve the quality of care for residents in LTC settings by investigating and resolving complaints made by, or on behalf of, such residents. This report provides an overview of the program, including its legislative history, administrative function, and FY2008 funding amounts by source.

Care management has been recognized as a valuable service in supporting family members who care for their older adult relatives. TCARE® is a caregiver assessment and referral protocol designed to assist care managers. The major goal of TCARE® is to provide care managers with a set of steps that are needed to move from the assessment to the implementation of a care plan. Find a presentation on Georgia’s experience with their person-centered initiative and use of the protocol

NJ’s charge to advance a Medicaid LTC system where there would be more options for community care, greater consumer choice and allowance for maximum flexibility between nursing homes and HCBS is “definitely showing positive trend lines” according to this report. The state’s Global Budget Projection model offers a budgetary process for tracking and projecting its LTC expenditures. Explore detailed information about the model’s methodology and findings.

Families have always borne the burden of long-term care, and struggle with feelings of grief, loss, despair, anger and hopelessness. In this powerful first person account, the author points out some of the sad consequences of the American health care system's emphasis on the treatment of acute episodic illness or injury and its relative neglect of chronic illness long-term care. This essay, written for the New England Journal of Medicine’s “Sounding Board” series, is considered a seminal work.

Only 10% of Americans have long-term care insurance and many insurance companies have terminated, or significantly raised the cost of their long-term care insurance offerings. Within this context, the author examines the CLASS program and compares its various features to currently available long-term care insurance policies, focusing on benefit eligibility, enrollment procedures, scope of benefits, ease of acquisition, program solvency, premium stability, and other features.

Future life planning is a growing concern among families with children with disabilities. This article presents a needs assessment evaluating feasibility of a new model for future life planning for family caregivers, Lifetime Assistance, which will provide ongoing planning and monitoring for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Findings show that caregivers overwhelmingly identified the need for the program and many were willing to pay for it themselves.

What specific provisions in the new law pertain to rural health care? This briefing looked at current health care policy initiatives pertaining to rural issues, with a special focus on information technology, and the opportunities and challenges that the reform implementation presents. Review the briefing's archived webcast, podcast, presentations, transcript and source materials.

Explore unique approaches to help your nonprofit achieve "organizational abundance", including ideas, strategies, and the latest information about how to get more resources. Check out this site which offers “12 Sources of Millions & Billions for Aging Services & Programs” including tapping into self-pay, strategic partnerships and alliances, in-kind support, health insurance and third-party pay options and more.

People receiving long term supports and services are frequently at risk for repeated hospital admissions, and patient care after a hospital stay is often fragmented and uncoordinated. Several types of technologies that have potential to support post-acute care transitions are discussed in this position paper. Studies suggest that the use of such technologies can lead to fewer hospitalizations and emergency room visits, high patient satisfaction and acceptance, and reductions in cost of care.

Five innovative states (Arizona, Hawaii, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin) with demonstrated expertise in managed care approaches for individuals with long-term care needs are featured in this report. The resulting “roadmap” outlines 10 critical mileposts for successfully designing models for managed LTSS. It also identifies key ACA provisions that support state efforts to improve long-term care delivery.