Reports

Every year the Administration for Community Living (ACL) uses U.S. Census data to compile a profile of the U.S. population over age 65. The population of older Americans is experiencing dynamic changes, and monitoring these changes over time is an important part of understanding current needs and preparing for future growth.

This report reflects on Medicaid’s accomplishments and challenges and considers the issues on the horizon that will influence the course of this major health coverage and financing program moving forward. The report follows Medicaid’s evolution, including major legislative changes and other inflection points in the program’s history and analyzes how Medicaid threads through our health care system today and the measure of its impact.

Person-centered planning encompasses the idea that the individual is at the heart of all decisions about services, supports, and care. This report analyzes how well states are implementing a 2014 rule that creates the right to person-centered care planning for Medicaid consumers of Long-Term Services and Supports. The report is a tool for health care providers, plan administrators, and advocates to help them understand the scope of the rules and be able to identify provision shortfalls.

This FDIC report provides information about the population of households headed by working-age adults with and without disability, including account ownership; use of prepaid debit cards; use of alternative financial services; mobile phone,smartphone, and online access. Participation in mainstream financial services is a critical indicator of the economic inclusion; yet the findings show 46.5% of households headed by working-age adults with disabilities are identified as unbanked or underbanked.

The Money Follows the Person (MFP) demonstration aims to give Medicaid beneficiaries living in long-term care facilities more choice about where they live and receive services and to strengthen state systems of LTSS to serve more people in community settings. This report examines how six MFP grantees (MO, LA, NE, NJ, OH, IL) are serving populations with diverse needs in the community and the factors that have contributed to their strong performance on key outcome measures.

This report provides an overview of the extent and distribution of food insecurity in 2013 among seniors, along with trends over the past decade using national and state-level data.The report finds senior hunger is on the rise, and in 2013, 15.5% of seniors (or 9.6 million) faced the threat of hunger. If you would like to request a hard copy version, please email Ali Diaz at adiaz@advancingstates.org

The fifth in a series of annual reports from the national evaluation of the MFP rebalancing demonstration, the report presents three sets of analyses that show the overall progress and effects of the MFP demonstration: progress made by grantees on their statutory transition and expenditure goals; the extent to which states are rebalancing their LTSS systems; and 3) changes in expenditures patterns and utilization of select services following an individual's transition from institutional to HCBS.

This report discusses how the public workforce system developed, how it operates today, significant programs and target groups, common employment services and job training strategies, and what is known about program effectiveness. In some instances, the report speculates on how the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 (WIOA) might influence such programs. Particular attention is given to services benefiting dislocated workers.

Health plans for people with pre-existing mental illness, if they included mental health benefits at all, have historically been more expensive, with limited benefits and significant administrative hurdles to obtaining care.This report describes a survey conducted by NAMI to assess the experiences of people living with mental illness and their families with private health insurance.The findings of the survey are supplemented with an analysis of 84 health plans in the top 15 states.

This report offers recommendations for federal and state entities from a thorough review of the legal and regulatory home and community-based services (HCBS) framework outlined by the Americans with Disabilities Act and new HCBS regulations. The bearing of setting size and configuration on the quality of supports and services received by people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and individuals with mental health disabilities in home and community-based arrangements is the focus.