Reports

This guide profiles 15 successful programs that have partnered with community organizations to address medication, alcohol and mental health problems in older adults by promoting new linkages between well-known, trusted, and heavily utilized providers of aging services and relevant substance abuse and mental health services. By joining these systems, we can more successfully identify older adults who are at risk and connect them with the prevention, education, outreach, and treatment services.

To keep states abreast of Maine’s efforts to achieve comprehensive health policy reform, the Governor’s Office of Health Policy and Finance has partnered with NASHP to chart the progress and implementation of the Dirigo Health Reform Act. There were multiple goals for this study and NASHP and LSPA identified five groups of key stakeholders to interview. This report presents the research of six focus groups.

To keep states abreast of Maine’s efforts to achieve comprehensive health policy reform, the Governor’s Office of Health Policy and Finance has partnered with NASHP to chart the progress and implementation of the Dirigo Health Reform Act. This issue brief addresses benefit design of the health plan, DirigoChoice designed to provide Maine businesses that have 50 or fewer eligible employees, the self-employed, and individuals with an affordable, high-quality option for health coverage.

The Minnesota Finance Authority has made available guides on their website to assist consumers on how to design accessible home modifications and provide details on what funding programs are available from federal, state and local levels. The website provides connection to two distinct guides: The Home Accessibility Remodeling Series and The Home Accessibility Remodeling Funding Resource

Turnover among direct-care workers in long-term care costs U.S. employers about $3,500 per employee, or more than $4 billion a year. This report outlines the known facts about direct-care turnover costs, presents a framework for measuring those costs, and discusses their implications for providers, policymakers, and researchers. The inescapable conclusion is that direct-care turnover is a business problem, a quality of care problem, and a significant public resource problem.

The New Freedom Initiative, announced in February 2001, called for a comprehensive assessment of federal policies, programs, statutes, and regulations to identify barriers that impede community living for disabled individuals—and for recommended solutions. In October 2004 CMS awarded an additional $30 million in Real Choice Systems Change Grants—this money in addition to the 188 grants for over $158 million between fiscal years 2001-03. This report highlights accomplishments of those programs.

The report contains findings from a 2004 survey of state administrators, an opinion survey, and telephone interviews, and responds to the questions: To what extent have consumer-directed home and community based services for older people taken root across the country? What are the characteristics of these programs and how do state aging administrators view consumer-directed programs working in their state? Report findings document the scope and characteristics of consumer-directed services.

This report focuses attention on a growing issue facing the nation: how to support & sustain those who are the cornerstone of our LTC system—the dedicated families & informal caregivers. This national study is the first to examine publicly funded caregiver support programs throughout all 50 states. The report identifies key findings, describes state approaches to providing caregiver support services, offers state-by-state profiles, pinpoints challenges, & expands recognition of caregiver needs.

In March ’01 the Department of Mental Retardation (DMR) began a strategic management planning process to develop a quality management and improvement system. The 2002-03 report derives information from a variety of quality assurance systems and databases. It is intended as starting point in the collective review & analysis of service quality. The data provided should be viewed as an opportunity to point out areas where the program is doing well as well as areas where improvements are needed.

Medstat identified common factors of system change in a six-page brief, based on a review of organization transformation literature and, more importantly, the experiences of eight state long-term support systems that were the subject of a series of case studies on comprehensive system reform.