Long Term Services and Supports

Health reform will bring important improvements in health care coverage for people with spinal cord injuries and people with disabilities in general. This brief summarizes insurance market reforms, HCBS options, mandatory health plan coverage provisions, Medicaid, Medicare, prevention and wellness, workforce issues and more.

Find state-developed resources on a variety of health reform implementation topics. The site is designed to support state officials working to implement health reform. States are encouraged to share their own resources as well as learn from others. Resources include state-specific overview analyses, work plans, timelines, progress reports, fiscal analyses, proposals for federal funding, state implementation websites and more.

Fiscal year 2010 presented the most difficult challenge for states' financial management since the Great Depression, according to this biannual state fiscal report. With a big drop in revenues from income taxes and other sources, the states are facing their worst fiscal squeeze in decades, as they try to keep programs running for more people, but have fewer dollars to spend. Budget cuts threaten health and social service programs, including the delivery of long-term services and supports.

Disability rates among older Americans have declined, and the ways in which community-dwelling older people with disabilities managed their conditions have substantially changed over the 20 years covered by this survey. Among those receiving human assistance, the vast majority were helped by family caregivers, who are increasingly taking full responsibility for providing care. Find detailed analyses of the data in two research reports that provide insight into the factors driving these changes.

Review slides from the CMS Leadership Summit on building capacity and coordinating support for family caregivers and the LTSS direct service workforce, held on September 16-17, 2010. Topics include ACA Opportunities for Family Caregivers and the Direct Care Workforce; Assistance and Support Services for Caregivers; DSW Policy Issues and Challenges; Building Capacity and Coordinating Support for Family Caregivers and the LTSS Direct Care Workforce.

Access the latest information on health care reform and learn how it impacts seniors and those with disabilities in your community. Resources include new grant releases, updates, fact sheets, blog links, state-by-state reports, CMS guidance and White House.gov links.

Review testimony presented at a public hearing in California. Among the recommendations for taking advantage of ACA’s opportunites are state support of the CLASS program, enhancement of care coordination and service integration for vulnerable seniors and people with disabilities including increased access to ADRCs, exploration of the potential to apply for enhanced Medicaid HCBS options, and identification of ways to support and grow the direct care workforce.

What are the key health reform provisions related to investments in direct-care worker training and workforce development? This fact sheet highlights national advisory panels as well as grant opportunities for states and individual employers. Action steps and additional resources are included.

Ten grants were awarded to states to develop a profile of the publicly funded LTC system and to assist CMS to develop national benchmarks that will be used to measure the degree and success of states' efforts to offer community based LTC services. Review Michigan’s report which focuses on the priority population of the elderly and adults with physical disabilities, but also includes systems that serve adults with developmental disabilities, adults with mental illness and children.

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.