Reports

SAMHSA offers a series of reports entitled Building Bridges. This series details dialogues among stakeholders, including consumers, mental health-related providers, and policy-makers, to identify strategies to promote recovery and wellness for people with mental health problems. Topics include the faith community, addiction, criminal justice, primary health care, disaster response, students and college administrators.

This paper reports the findings of a study to document and analyze selected best practices related to state administered home and community based services (HCBS) programs. Examination of the programs provided the context for examining two interrelated areas of policy interest: how states organize and deliver a range of HCBS within fixed budgets; and how eligibility determination, needs assessment, care planning and service authorization functions are structured and linked to one another.

This report estimates that public financial and personal clinical outcomes can be improved by moving dual eligibles to capitated managed care. The authors view the clinical and eligibility characteristics of dual eligibles as well-matched to the strengths of integrated care programs. The document lays out the reasoning and data behind the estimate, recommends policy changes needed to make the transition, identifies potential barriers to implementation and offers examples from KY and MN.

This study provides a detailed profile of Hispanic family caregivers to determine how they differ from non-Hispanic caregivers and to explore their information and service needs. Key findings regarding incidence of family caregiving situations, demographics, care intensity, reported stress levels, and cultural beliefs, and others are presented. The authors also discuss policy implications of the findings.

Four articles provide an update of where the Older Americans Act (OAA) and the Aging Network stand in the face of demographic, economic, and health care issues. The first two cover the history of the legislative and budgetary developments of the network and report on a national survey of Area Agencies on Aging. The third summarizes political vagaries that network agencies encounter. The last advocates that civic engagement efforts must expand to cover disadvantaged and vulnerable older adults.

Many of the same social, health, and economic trends driving the development of home and community-based services in the U.S. are also present in Europe. A team of experts assembled by the World Health Organization presents evidence for the effectiveness of home care, shows how it can be improved, and explains the need for equitable access. It also explores the varied cultural and care contexts in Europe and provides suggestions on educating professionals and the public about these issues.

How can you shape programs and direct funds to use the power of self-direction in employment programs? This resource presents two examples of states that have achieved this. It also discusses characteristics of and barriers to facilitating consumer direction in employment.

About 52 million people provided family caregiving worth about $375 billion in 2007. That amount exceeds Medicaid long-term care spending in each state. Caregiving services included in the estimate are personal care, help with everyday tasks, and health-related interventions. The document presents data nationally and by state and concludes with policy recommendations to support and sustain family caregivers.

Everything from program structure, eligibility, services, financing and expenditures are covered here in concise summaries. This updated edition also contains graphics showing expenditures by service and the growth of Medicaid acute care spending as compared to private health plans. The tables at the end present data broken down by state. Refer to the 2007 version for historic perspective.

In Empowering Arizona’s Individuals with Developmental Disabilities (EAzI), consumers actively contribute to quality improvement as interviewers, interviewees, and focus group participants. Four focus groups were used to learn what criteria consumers use to judge the quality of HCBS. Aside from the report, there is also a flyer and website used in recruiting EAzI participants. The website has a way to get information in Spanish and an online application.