Reports

An updated and accessible compendium of indicators, this report is drawn from official statistics about the well-being of Americans primarily age 65 and older. The document also provides a broad description of areas of well-being that are improving for older Americans and those that are not. Thirty-seven key indicators are categorized into five broad areas – population, economics, health status, health risks and behaviors, and health care.

This document offers recommendations for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of Older Americans Act (OAA) services upon its reauthorization. Recommendations are made under each Title of the Act. More general recommendations include increasing interaction and coordination with other federal programs that deliver services for older adults such as the Low-Income Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), Senior Corps, and Adult Protective Services.

This report serves as a follow-up to the 1995 Institute on Medicine (IOM) report which argued for an ombudsman program to address the quality of care in long-term institutional settings. This study investigates the role and effectiveness of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman Programs (LTCOPs) in improving care. Surveys with all states/territories reveal new findings on the structure of the program in different states as well as their own perceived effectiveness. Comprehensive data and analysis.

This report summarizes the progress of Money Follows the Person (MFP) grant programs in 33 states and the District of Columbia. MFP grants support state efforts to help individuals living in institutions move to home and community based services (HCBS). The document examines numbers of people who transitioned, reinstitutionalization rates, achievement of spending goals on Medicaid HCBS, and major accomplishments and implementation challenges.

The analysis in this report finds that a federal paid family and medical leave program would most likely have positive effects on employment and lifetime income, as national data consistently show that access to any form of parental leave, paid or unpaid, makes women more likely to return to work after giving birth. These effects would be largest for less-educated and lower-income families, who currently have the lowest levels of access to any form of leave, paid or unpaid.

The results of the survey suggest that in the past three months, 39.8 million people (aged 15 and older) provided unpaid care. Starting last year, respondents were asked about caregiving. Almost a third of respondents reported taking care of two or more older people, and 23% also had a minor child in their households. The results also suggest that men caregivers are growing in numbers. The average time spent providing care was three hours, though women spend about an hour more than men.

States provide long-term care services in homes and community-based settings through 1915(c) home and community-based services (HCBS) waiver programs. To ensure strong oversight of waiver programs, this report reviews documents from CMS's most recent quality review of waiver programs from 25 States, as well as information gathered from structured interviews with staff from the 10 CMS regional offices. The report also identify five recommendations to meet assurances related to quality of care.

Supported by the Pew Home Visiting Campaign, NASHP conducted a scan of state policies and practices and convened an expert panel to identify mechanisms for supporting home visiting services through Medicaid. This report explores various Medicaid financing mechanisms states could use to support home visiting services and considerations for states exploring these financing options.

The first National Alzheimer’s Plan includes current federal activities and initial recommendations to expand, coordinate or condense programs to overcome Alzheimer’s disease. The plan was called for in the National Alzheimer’s Project Act (NAPA), which President Obama signed into law in January 2011. The National Plan sets forth five goals, including the development of effective prevention and treatment approaches for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias by 2025.

States have continued to rebalance their long-term services and supports (LTSS) toward more home and community-based services (HCBS). This report uses diverse methods to assess the different incentives affecting states’ decisions to implement the four Medicaid HCBS options under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA); two new options (Community First Choice and the Balancing Incentive Program) and two existing [Money Follows the Person and 1915(i)].