Reports

Legisbrief is a briefing papers that offers important issues of the day. This volume provides an overview of the new demonstration initiative entitled \"Money Follows the Person.\" States now have additional support from the federal government. The new federal demonstration provides new financial incentives for states to initiate system of flexible spending for long-term services and supports that enables available funds to move with the individual to the most appropriate and preferred setting.

While aggregate household net wealth grew from $25.9 trillion in 1995 to $50.1 trillion in 2004 (both in 2004 dollars), nearly 90 percent of the net gains occurred only among the top quartile of households in the wealth distribution. This paper discusses both household wealth and inequality growth, examines demographic factors behind the growth, and analyzes housing’s role in it, using the Survey of Consumer Finances data collected by the Federal Reserve Bank.

A goal of the Maryland Real Choice grant was to “provide information and assistance to consumer in acute care hospitals to aid decision-making and assist with transitions back to the community.” In 2003, a hospital discharge initiative was used to pay for nurses to work with patients being discharged from acute-care hospital stays. This paper reviews and answers whether there has been any change in discharge patterns from pilot sites to nursing homes relative to the rest of the state.

In laying the groundwork for sustainable improvements in the infrastructure for LTC policy and program implementation, Massachusetts Real Choice grantees conducted an assessment of current Service Coordination practices across State agencies. The research objective was to better understand present service coordination practices among agencies dealing with elderly and individuals with disabilities with the intention of identifying “promising practices”. This report presents the review results.

These reports are reviews of Utah’s long–term care system and waiver programs and provide recommendations for change. The Focus Group Findings focused on non-institutionalized and community based settings. The Long-Term Care paper provides more generalized findings about the structure of Utah’s long-term care system and how to transition forward based on input from stakeholders and administrators, comparisons to other states, and review of current documents and policy.

MA grantees hired an independent evaluator to conduct qualitative assessments of consumers’ experiences at two and nine months of participation. At two months, the successes included connections to community supports and services. Identified challenges included developing and managing an individual budget. Successes at 9 months include increased independence, self-determination, and availability of workers and supports. Challenges included community liaison training and out-of-pocket spending.

The goal of the Massachusetts Real Choice Pilot Project was to increase the quality of life and independence of participant through cost-effective flexible funding. Two pilot projects were developed under the grant to serve adults with disabilities. Attached documents include the pilot project summary, the request for proposals for organizations to participate in the pilot project, methodology of the project, and a descriptive presentation.

During the Spring 2006, a total of thirteen sessions that included key informant interviews and focus groups ranging in size between eight to twelve participants were conducted. The report states several key areas of concern that emerged from the discussions in relationship to Illinois’ Choices for Care program of offering older adults alternatives to nursing home placement. Potential solutions to these identified areas may be found at the end of this report.

As part of California’s QA/QI grant, this report discusses grant activity related to the measurement of consumer outcomes. Included in the report are a comparative review of consumer satisfaction survey instruments considered for use and an analysis of California’s information system with respect to the requirements of participation in National Core Indicators.

This article is aimed at developing tools to help human service providers form partnerships to address and prevent stigmatization of people with disabilities. The Idaho State University Institute of Rural Health (ISU-IRH) developed two anti-stigma social marketing campaigns that incorporated methods to empower people, campaign design and distribution, and methodology for evaluating the effectiveness of the campaign.