An Examination of Issues Related to How Home and Community-Based Services Programs Operate Within Fixed Budgets and to the Administrative Linkages Between Eligibility Determination, Needs Assessment and Care Planning Functions

This paper reports the findings of a study to document and analyze selected best practices related to state administered home and community based services (HCBS) programs. Examination of the programs provided the context for examining two interrelated areas of policy interest: how states organize and deliver a range of HCBS within fixed budgets; and how eligibility determination, needs assessment, care planning and service authorization functions are structured and linked to one another.