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Recent developments in public funding and programs
O'Keefe, J., Siebenaler, K., Anderson, W., Greene, A., Bernard, S., Kennedy, G., Rabiner, D., & Katz, R. (2002). Home and community services: Recent developments in public funding and programs. Gerontologist, 42(Sp. 1), 325-326. Article 323. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/42.Special_Issue_I.1
A number of states have expanded home and community services (HCBS) to enable older persons to avoid institutionalization and to allow greater consumer choice and direction over the services they receive. However, some states have difficulty shifting funding from institutional spending to HCBS due to the weight of longstanding policies, regulations, and procedures, as well as entrenched interests in existing systems. Even in states that are committed to expanding HCBS, workforce shortages present a major barrier to doing so. This Symposium will discuss a new federal grants initiative to help states bring about LTC systems change that will increase HCBS options and consumer control of those options. It will also discuss federal options that states can use to enable more low income seniors to receive Medicaid covered services in assisted living. The Symposium will also discuss two federal demonstration programs currently being evaluated, which use senior volunteers to care for older adults in the community: the Senior Companion Program, and the Experience Corps for Independent Living Initiative. Programs using either volunteer or paid seniors to provide HCBS hold the potential to address the national LTC workforce shortage.
