Affordable Care Act Funds to Help States Move
Medicaid Patients Back to Their Homes
$4.3 billion in new funds will expand
community-based alternatives to institutional long term care
Feb. 23, 2011 -
States will see significant new federal support, now and in the near
future, in their efforts to help move Medicaid beneficiaries out of
institutions and into their own homes or other community settings Health
and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced
yesterday.
The Affordable
Care Act provides additional funding for two programs supporting that
goal, the Money Follows the Person (MFP) demonstration program and the
Community First Choice Option program.
Secretary
Sebelius said thirteen states would together receive more than $45
million in MFP grants to start that program in their states, with a
total of $621 million committed through 2016.
Editor’s Note: Enrollment in the state-federal
program that is often the last resort safety net for chronically ill
senior citizens rose by 8.5 percent in fiscal year 2010
This report by Statline.org, published November 26,
explains the health care crisis faced by many states as more of the
burden for Medicaid, SCHIP move to them
In addition, HHS
has proposed rules to allow all states to access a potential of $3.7
billion in increased federal funding to provide long-term services and
supports through the Community First Choice Option program.
“Our country
recognized in the Americans with Disabilities Act that everyone who can
live at home or community-based setting should be allowed to do so,”
Secretary Sebelius said. “The Affordable Care Act provides states
critical new dollars toward achieving that goal.”
Thirteen
states Receive Money Follows the Person Program Grants
The Money
Follows the Person (MFP) demonstration program, which was set to expire
in fiscal year 2011, is extended through the Affordable Care Act for an
additional five years. The 13 states receiving awards today (see list
and award amounts below) join the 29 states and the District of Columbia
already operating MFP programs. Together, these states will receive more
than $45 million in the first year of the program, and more than $621
million through 2016.
The MFP program
provides individuals living in a nursing home or other institution new
opportunities to live in the community with the services and supports
they need. Groups benefiting from these home-and-community based
programs include the elderly, persons with intellectual, developmental
and/or physical disabilities, mental illness or those diagnosed with
several of these conditions. To date, these programs have helped 12,000
individuals move out of institutions and back into their communities.
Today’s grants are expected to help an additional 13,000 people.
“The Money
Follows the Person program is hugely important to improving the lives of
Medicaid beneficiaries,” said Donald Berwick, M.D., administrator of the
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which will implement the
demonstration program.
“This helps bring everyone, even those who in the
past may have had no choice but to live in an institution, into the
community where they can become full participants in the activities most
of us take for granted.”
New Community
First Choice Option Available to states
Many of the same
goals under the MFP demonstration are shared and supported by the
Community First Choice (CFC) Option, created by the Affordable Care Act.
Today, nursing homes and institutions are too often the first or only
choice for people with Medicaid who need long term care. The goal of
this new option is to give states additional resources to make community
living a first choice, and leave nursing homes and institutions as a
fall back option.
Starting in
October, this option will allow states to receive a six percent increase
in federal matching funds for providing community-based attendant
services and supports to people with Medicaid. Over the next three
years—through 2014—states could see a total of $3.7 billion in new funds
to provide these services. states currently receive Federal Medicaid
matching funds for these activities at the State’s normal matching rate.
Services and
supports that can be provided under CFC include, but are not limited to,
attendant services and supports that help individuals with activities of
daily living such as bathing and eating, and health-related tasks
through hands-on assistance or supervision. states may also cover costs
related to moving individuals from an institution to the community, such
as security and utility deposits, first month’s rent, and purchasing
basic household supplies.
To qualify for
the increased Federal funds, states must develop “person-centered plans”
that allow the individual to determine how services are provided to
achieve or maintain independence. states must also establish
implementation councils with a majority membership consisting of persons
with disabilities, elderly individuals and their representatives to
advise in the design and implementation of Community First Choice
option.
“There is more
evidence than ever that people who need long-term care prefer to live in
their own homes and communities whenever possible,” said Dr. Berwick.
“To restrict these individuals to institutions where even the simplest
decisions of the day such as when to get up, what to eat and when to
sleep are made by someone else must no longer be the norm. This new
Federal funding will make a difference in people’s lives.”
MONEY FOLLOWS THE PERSON
DEMONSTRATION GRANTS
See below for the
list of states receiving MFP grants today.
Money Follows the Person Grant Awardees
State
Grantee
1st YR. Award
Funds committed through 2016
Colorado
Colorado Department of Health Care Policy & Financing
$2,000,000
$22,189,486
Florida
Florida
Agency for Health Care Administration, Medicaid
$4,203,999
$35,748,853
Idaho
Idaho
Department of Health and Welfare, Division of Medicaid
$695,206
$6,456,560
Maine
Maine
Department of Health and Human Services
$699,970
$7,151,735
Massachusetts
Massachusetts
Executive Office of Health & Human Services, Office of
Medicaid
$13,486,888
$110,000,000
Minnesota
Department of Human Services
$13,421,736
$187,412,620
Mississippi
Mississippi
Division of Medicaid, Office of Health Services
$1,341,394
$37,076,814
Nevada
Nevada
Department of Health & Human Services, Division of Health
Care Financing & Policy
$800,000
$7,276,402
New
Mexico
New
Mexico Human Services Department, Medical Assistance
Division, Long Term Services & Supports Bureau
$595,839
$23,724,360
Rhode
Island
Rhode
Island Department of Human Services, Division of Health Care
Quality, Financing & Purchasing / Medicaid Division
$2,503,021
$24,570,450
Tennessee
Tennessee
Bureau of TennCare
$2,357,733
$119,624,597
Vermont
Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living
$2,123,975
$17,963,059
West
Virginia
West
Virginia Department of Health & Human Resources, Bureau for
Medical Services
$1,267,373
$22,220,423
TOTAL
$45,497,134
$621,415,359
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Feb. 23, 2011 -
States will see significant new federal support, now and in the near
future, in their efforts to help move Medicaid beneficiaries out of
institutions and into their own homes or other community settings Health
and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced
yesterday.
Financial Relief for Volkswagen Diesel Owners 