Reports

In 2014, most homeless people will become Medicaid-eligible under the Affordable Care Act. Many homeless people have physical and behavioral health conditions for which they seek care through frequent use of emergency rooms and inpatient hospitalization, at considerable cost in public resources. Medicaid reimbursement is an important source of funding for services that help homeless people succeed in housing and stop such inappropriate use of crisis health services.

This is the second “year in review” of developments in family caregiving, and there remains considerable room for improvement in how this nation supports the over 42 million family caregivers (and growing) who provide an estimated $450 billion in “free” care annually. The guide provides an overview of key developments in 2011. Two shorter versions, "45 Facts About Family Caregivers" and "27 Things You May not Know about Women and Caregiving" are also available.

Autism spectrum disorders are among the fastest-growing developmental disability diagnosis in the US. This growing number highlights the need to learn more about the services & supports that are currently available for adults with ASD, & consider those that will be needed throughout their adult lifespan. The purpose of the study was to investigate how people with ASD are being served across states in HCBS, including service eligibility, state trends specific to autism services & lessons learned.

The goals of the survey, which was sent to direct-care workers serving participants using the MI Choice SD option, were to: collect baseline demographic information on workers in the SD option; understand the motivations, job satisfaction, and training needs of workers providing services and supports to self-directed participants; and,identify strategies to strengthen and support the recruitment and retention of workers in self-directed programs.

This report describes the process of assembling and integrating Medicaid and Medicare data to study recipients of HCBS in California. Subsequent reports will describe disability levels and service use of HCBS users in Medi-Cal only and dual eligibles between 2005 and 2008.

This report presents budgeting and contractual strategies used in Arizona, Hawaii, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin. In different ways, these states have made substantial progress in transforming their LTSS systems by developing flexible accounting policies that have reduced NF utilization and captured the savings to support their HCBS programs.

This policy brief from Georgetown University, produced with support from The SCAN Foundation, reviews Medicaid's importance and current funding limitations for long-term care and makes the case for strengthening Medicaid two possible ways - full federal responsibility for Medicare beneficiaries who also rely on Medicaid or an enhanced federal match for Medicaid long-term care services. Each approach carries with it a federal commitment to bear the brunt of a growing elderly population.

Medicaid program integrity is among the highest priorities of the nation’s Medicaid Directors and is a key component of every initiative and program states conduct. Program integrity is about creating a culture where there are consistent incentives to provide better health outcomes within a context that avoids over-or underutilization of services. Directors seek to promote economy, efficiency, accountability, and integrity in the management and delivery of services.

Person- and family-centered care (PFCC) has gained attention in recent years as a mechanism for transforming health care and long-term services & supports (LTSS). Research shows that PFCC improves quality of care & quality of life. The current shift in payment reform & service delivery away from disease or provider-focused models and toward incentives that reward better coordination, communication, and continuity of care, is likely to promote wider adoption and effective implementation of PFCC.

The Money Follows the Person (MFP) Demonstration supports state efforts to help Medicaid beneficiaries living in long-term care facilities transition back to community-based residences and to make community-based long-term care services and supports more accessible. This report uses aggregate data from annual financial reports and service claims records submitted by grantees to examine the costs and types of community-based services received by participants in the MFP program.