Reports

A new survey shows overwhelming support for giving residents choices for long-term care in the home and community. Tennessee is last in the nation in providing options in long-term care. AARP commissioned this survey to determine where voters stand on key issues. Voters say they are more likely to vote for state candidates who support allowing funds now used only for nursing homes to also be available for alternative services which help older and disabled Tennesseans remain independent.

This Discussion Paper summarizes selected approaches for analyzing the cost effectiveness of nursing home transition/MFP projects. It identifies questions that should be asked about the cost effectiveness of nursing home transition projects, discusses each question, identifies available national and state data pertinent to the question, and shows how states have answered these questions.

This tool box is intended to synthesize information that is available from multiple sources about nursing home transition and Money Follows the Person (MFP) initiatives to help states prepare for the MFP Demonstration program created by the Deficit Reduction Act. Each chapter summarizes the state of the field in a particular MFP design component, such as identifying consumers, planning and implementing transitions from an institution, financing MFP, and evaluating programs and progress.

The Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS) conducted an end-of-grant de-briefing for its stakeholders. The purpose was to give the grant’s pilot participants (Heart of Texas Council of Governments; Central Texas Council of Governments; Texoma Council of Governments) an opportunity to discuss their 3-year projects and articulate lessons learned. The intent of the system navigator grant was to help all persons in their community navigate the maze of long-term services.

This report is the first in a series of final reports that RTI will prepare to document the outcomes of the Real Choice Systems Change Grants. The principal sources of data for this report are Grantees semi-annual, annual, and final reports, a 2005 topic paper on the NFT Grantees and Grantee-prepared final reports and evaluation results as well as publications and materials developed under the grant. This report was referenced on page 48 of CMS MFP Demonstration Solicitation Document.

Throughout the development process, programs must consider the steps to sustainability including people, planning and preparation, publicity/public relations, facilities, programs, policies and procedures, and persistence and positive passion. This entry includes a paper by Florene Stewart Poyadue offered to Family to Family grantees during a technical assistance call, plus the transcripts from the session where participants discussed the 7Ps of sustainability.

Practitioners and policy makers who focus on youth must be knowledgeable about youth development concepts, but it is critically important they know how to apply those concepts in the context of specific functions and program responsibilities. The emphasis of this paper is on incorporating youth development into state adolescent health programs however, the information is relevant to other state-funded programs that address various adolescent issues.

This report describes grant activities in three major LTC systems areas: Access to Long-Term Care Services and Supports, Services, Supports, and Housing, Administrative and Monitoring Infrastructure. For each of the focus areas the report describes Grantees’ accomplishments, illustrates the challenges and discusses the consumers’ role in the implementation and evaluation of activities. The report uses information provided during the reporting period October 1, 2004 to September 30, 2005.

This report highlights the work of nine CMS Money Follows the Persons Grantees, with a focus on Texas and Wisconsin. The report describes the initiatives, and discusses policy and design factors states should consider when developing MFP programs, including developing legislation and budget mechanisms for making transfers of funds, assuring availability of services and housing, identifying potential consumers for transition, developing NFT infrastructure, and monitoring and quality assurance.

This report assesses the appeal of the Cash and Counseling demonstration by: (1) estimating the proportions of eligible beneficiaries that participated and comparing the characteristics of participants and nonparticipants; (2) describing beneficiaries’ most common reasons for agreeing or declining to participate; and (3) examining whether the demonstration affected the number of beneficiaries accessing personal care services or home and community-based services over time.