additionally information on MFP
Glenna Taylor
-----Original Message-----
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Sent: Wed, 26 Jul 2006 10:26 AM
Subject: Fw: UPDATED: CMS Money Follows the Person Announcement
Today--July 26
UPDATED: CMS Money Follows the Person Announcement Today--July 26
----- Original Message ----- From: Kegler, Elizabeth R. (CMS)
To: Kegler, Elizabeth R. (CMS)
Sent: Wednesday, July 26, 2006 8:40 AM
Subject: UPDATED: CMS Money Follows the Person Announcement Today--July
26
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator, Dr. Mark
McClellan, will be making an announcement today at 2:00 pm ET regarding
the next steps in implementing the Money Follows the Person initative,
which was included in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005.
Representatives from the American Association of People with
Disabilities, ADAPT, and the National Council on Independent Living
will also be participating in this call. Call-in information is below.
DATE: Wednesday, July 26, 2006
TIME: 2:00 PM ET
DURATION: 30 minutes
TOLL FREE #: 1-888-677-3119
PASSCODE: MFP
CALL LEADER: Ruth Miller (Dial in 10-15 prior to the scheduled start time,
if possible.)
*******************************************
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: HHS Press Office
Wednesday, July 26, 2006 (202) 690-6343
HHS PROVIDES FUNDING TO STATES
FOR ALTERNATIVES TO NURSING HOME CARE IN MEDICAID
"Money Follows the Person" Helps States Rebalance Long-Term Care
Systems
States will get additional help from the federal government to support
elderly and disabled Medicaid recipients who wish to live in the community
rather than institutions, HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt
announced today.
Through competitive grants, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services (CMS) will give states a total of $1.75 billion over five
years to help shift Medicaid from its historical emphasis on
institutional long-term care services to a system that offers more
choices for seniors and persons with disabilities from all age groups,
including home and community-based services. This Money Follows the
Person "rebalancing" initiative was included in the Deficit Reduction
Act of 2005 (DRA) currently being implemented by CMS. This endeavor is
also a part of President Bush's New Freedom Initiative.
"With this program, people who need long-term care and prefer to live
in their own homes and communities can do so," Secretary Leavitt said.
"States will also get more for their money by giving the elderly and
people with disabilities more control over how and where they get the
Medicaid-funded long-term care services they need."
"We've worked with advocates and states for years to end the
institutional bias in Medicaid, and now we've got the best opportunity
ever to do it," said Mark B. McClellan, M.D., Ph.D., CMS Administrator.
"We need to move as quickly as possible to make that shift across
Medicaid. With new Federal funding, there is no longer any excuse for
the status quo."
States interested in applying for a "Money Follows the Person" grant
can propose new programs to CMS that are aimed at sustaining people in
their homes or communities who would have otherwise received care in a
nursing home or other institution. The qualified expenditures may be
eligible for an enhanced match rate from the federal government equal
to an increase of 50 percent of the usual state Medicaid percentage
contribution in addition to the usual match rate. In effect, the
federal government will pay for 75 to 90 percent of the costs of
transitioning individuals out of nursing homes and into community
settings, and the associated long-term care benefit costs. Grant funds
may also be used to help control how they receive these services.
The higher matching rate will be applied to certain services provided
to an individual for a one year period after the individual moves out
of an institution and into the community. Funds can be used not only
for alternatives to institutional care services, such as home health
care; they can also be used for home modification costs, respite
services to augment informal or unpaid caregivers, personal care and
assistive devices. In their applications, states are encouraged to
coordinate with local and state housing authorities to provide
coordinated assistance for community-based housing needs. CMS and the
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have made steps to
establish a new interagency liaison to support this coordination.
"We know that accessible, affordable, integrated housing is critical
to a person's ability to make the transition into the community, HUD
Secretary Alphonso Jackson said. "My agency will strongly urge the
Public Housing Agencies and Housing Finance Agencies in the states to
work collaboratively with Medicaid programs to help create
opportunities for those moving out of institutions into the community."
Each state awarded a grant must continue to provide community services
after the year of enhanced match as long as the person needs community
services and is Medicaid eligible. The deadline for the first year's
applications is Nov. 1, 2006. Demonstration grants will be
competitively awarded to states from Jan. 1, 2007 through Sept. 30,
2011. Funds will be available for a five-year period; however, states
must participate in the demonstration for a minimum of two consecutive
years.
The Medicaid program traditionally pays for care for persons who are
elderly and those with disabilities living in institutions who needed
help with activities of daily living, because institutional care was
the norm when the Medicaid law was enacted forty years ago. To provide
home and community-based services, states must get a "waiver" of normal
program rules designed to pay for care in institutions. Waivers and
demonstration programs offer the promise of significantly lower costs
per beneficiary and reductions in overall Medicaid spending as a result
of giving individuals control over how to get their services, rather
than requiring them to use institutional care in order to get Medicaid
long-term care benefits. But rebalancing Medicaid coverage may have
some short-term costs, which the new federal program enables states to
overcome.
In addition to the Money Follows the Person initiative, the DRA made
many changes in Medicaid that will allow states to add home and
community-based services to their permanent array of benefits without
having to go through the waiver process. For example, under another DRA
provision, states now have the option to provide home and
community-based services without needing a waiver.
"Even though personal control leads to better results and lower costs for
people with a disability, it's still true today that most elderly
or disabled enrollees do not have a choice about how they get their
long-term care services under Medicaid," said Dr. McClellan. "By
working with states, advocates, and Medicaid enrollees to take
advantage of these unprecedented opportunities, that's going to
change."
A copy of the "2006 Money Follows the Person Rebalancing Initiative
Demonstration Program," including the application forms, can be
obtained at www.grants.gov. For more details about the New Freedom
Initiative, visit the CMS Web site at:
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/newfreedom/.
###
Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials
are available at
http://www.hhs.gov/news.
NATIONAL ADAPT MAILING LIST - Adapt MiCASA List
http://www.adapt.org
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