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This report summarizes the key participation and spending trends in 2012 for the three main Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) programs – (1) the mandatory home health services state plan benefit, (2) the optional personal care services state plan benefit, and (3) optional § 1915(c) HCBS waiver services. Also highlighted are 2014 state eligibility, enrollment, and provider reimbursement policies.
The Money Follows the Person (MFP) demonstration provides enhanced federal matching funds, allowing states to better support Medicaid long-term services and supports beneficiaries in transitioning from institutions back to the community. This report highlights 2015 MFP enrollment and spending trends and services and supports offered across state MFP demonstrations.
Long-term care (LTC) in the United States has evolved over the course of the last century to better serve the needs of seniors and person with disabilities. This long-term care timeline outlines the major milestones in LTC from the nursing home era, which created an institutional bias in LTC, to the era of home and community based services (HCBS) and integration, and into the era of health reform and beyond.
For 15 years, KCMU and HMA have conducted annual surveys of Medicaid programs across the country. The NAMD has formally collaborated on this project since 2014. This brief provides a look back at the enrollment and spending trends as well as the multitude of policy actions taken by states across key areas: eligibility and application processes; provider rates and taxes; benefits, pharmacy and long-term care since as well as highlighting more recent data on managed care and delivery system reforms collected as part of this annual survey. Looking ahead, the survey will continue to capture the evolution of the Medicaid program with a focus program changes during economic cycles as well as innovations in payment and delivery system reform.
Maryland’s Money Follows the Person (MFP) demonstration continues to lead the state’s Medicaid long-term services and supports rebalancing efforts. This case study describes key features of Maryland’s MFP demonstration and highlights recent program experiences.
Tennessee’s Money Follows the Person (MFP) demonstration, implemented within the context of Tennessee’s pre-existing capitated Medicaid managed care delivery system, is an integral component of the state’s Medicaid long-term services and supports rebalancing efforts. This case study describes key features of Tennessee's MFP demonstration and highlights recent program experiences.
The Balancing Incentive Program provides enhanced federal matching funds, allowing states to advance their efforts to rebalance Medicaid long-term services and supports (LTSS) spending and expand access to home and community-based services as an alternative to institutional care. This report highlights participating states' efforts to implement the program's three structural requirements and use the enhanced federal funds in support of other Medicaid LTSS rebalancing efforts.
This issue brief presents national and state-level analysis of nursing homes based on the Five-Star Quality Rating System, recently updated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to help consumers compare nursing homes when selecting one for themselves or their family members. The issue brief finds that more than one-third (36%) of the nation’s 15,500 nursing homes certified by Medicare or Medicaid received relatively low ratings of 1 or 2 stars (out of a possible 5 stars). In 11 states, at least 40 percent of nursing homes in the state have 1- or 2-star ratings. In 23 states, however, at least half of the nursing homes have 4- or 5- star ratings. This issue brief discusses relevant policy considerations regarding nursing home quality—a serious issue in light of the vulnerability of the nursing home population and recent reports of problems arising from inadequate staffing, fire safety hazards, and substandard care.
This primer provides an overview of the delivery and financing of institutional and community-based long-term services and supports in the United States, highlighting Medicaid's key role in providing care, quality measurement and evaluation, and recent national reform efforts.
The Medicaid program, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on July 30, 1965, will reach its 50th anniversary this year, a historic milestone. This report reflects on Medicaid’s accomplishments and challenges and considers the issues on the horizon that will influence the course of this major health coverage and financing program moving forward.
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