Reports

This report provides a comparison of Medicare, Medicaid and State Child Health Insurance Program provisions contained in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (S. 1932) as amended and passed by the Senate. The report compares the bill's provisions with current law. This report will be updated. The sections that most pertain to providers of HCBS services are the Cash & Counseling section, the HCBS State Plan Option and the Money Follows the Person Demonstration.

Based on a comprehensive review of the relevant literature, this paper examines the impact of asset ownership on meaningful and participatory social inclusion. The paper first, presents an overview of the assets-based perspective of welfare and highlight factors that have shaped this perspective with an overview of rural communities and their relationship to these issues. Next, the paper reviews the potential effects of asset ownership and how this may impact social inclusion in rural areas.

Can agency consolidation bring about consistent policymaking and focus long term care services on persons with disabilities rather than on program providers? This AARP Public Policy Institute Issue Paper provides readers with an examination of a consolidated agency approach, by studying agency structure, reviewing the arguments for consolidation, and the barriers to achieving it. It also reviews several states accomplishing consolidation and a checklist of steps towards such a model.

As part of a 2004 QA/QI grant, New Hampshire developed this procedure that established the required components and reporting expectations by providers regarding sentinel events within the state's E/D waiver. Review the protocol and sample form that support quality assurance activities.

Maryland has developed this policy guide which describes the process, monitoring, reporting and oversight of Reportable Events for the Autism Waiver, Living at Home Waiver and Older Adults Waiver and also includes a flowchart and a Reportable Events Form. The purpose of this policy is to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of participants in the Home and Community-Based Services waivers by formalizing a process to identify, report, and resolve Reportable Events (ie., incidents or complaints).

The Nursing Home Transition Summit, convened by Rutgers Center for State Health Policy, was held September 28 through September 30, 2005. It brought together 39 participants from ten states, in addition to representatives from CMS, to discuss how to sustain nursing home transition programs. The New Jersey Community Choice Counseling program served as the summit centerpiece, with presentations by program staff and visits to several sites in the Central New Jersey area.

This baseline survey has the reviews of professionals working with those at risk of losing their subsidized housing and entering a nursing facility due to emotional, cognitive, or behavioral issues. The survey was also used to better understand and identify risk factors, and import services, associated with nursing home placement, its avoidance, and training needs.

The report describes programs in various states whose primary purpose is nursing facility diversion or transition and identifies promising practices that have helped states divert or transition individuals from nursing facilities. Drawing upon those experiences, the report provides a variety of recommendations for states to consider in addressing the barriers and strengthening efforts to divert and transition individuals from nursing facilities.

This State Policy in Practice brief describes Indiana’s efforts to develop a new, comprehensive program that helps people in Indiana (the Hoosiers) avoid nursing home placement if possible and desirable. It also describes pilot programs to transition those who choose to enter a nursing home, but then want to return to their homes. It is intended to help state policy and program leaders, advocates, and providers learn from their peers and colleagues across the states.

The National Council on Disability is calling on administration to reform long-term services and supports systems to better serve people with disabilities and the elderly. In this new report, the NCD looks at current state activities, identifies the problems with our currently fragmented federal system and offers recommendations on future needs.