Standing Grantee Call:
ADRCs and the Deficit Reduction Act (September 7, 2006)

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Brief Background:

The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 made major changes in Medicaid eligibility and state program flexibility. Among the changes included are the opportunities for states to offer home and community-based long-term care services (HCBS) without utilizing waivers, provide HCBS to individuals with less care need than current institutional level of care, allow cash and counseling type personal assistance services without a waiver and begin a Long-term Care (LTC) Partnership Program to ease Medicaid eligibility when private LTC insurance benefits have been exhausted. The Act also provides for competitive grants of $1.75 billion over 5 years for states to develop necessary infrastructure to implement money follows the person programs and provide increased federal money for services to people transitioning out of institutions. The Act also tightens certain Medicaid eligibility provisions.

Robert Mollica is the Senior Program Director for the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP). NASHP is a non-profit, non-partisan organization which works with state officials to help them develop innovative approaches to complex long-termcare challenges. NASHP provides a unique forum for productive interchange across agencies and conducts policy research, primarily through case studies and surveys, provides technical assistance to states, and convenes meetings of experts from the public and private sectors. NASHP is frequently involved in state and national efforts to develop or improve long-term care services and delivery systems.

Dr. Mollica conducts health policy and long term care research. He also provides technical assistance to state health policy leaders on long-term care and assisted living. He is the Project Manager for NASHP’s contract with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality User Liaison Program to organize workshops and other activities to disseminate research addressing the priorities of state policymakers. He managed and co-authored five national studies on state assisted living policy and regulation. Prior to joining the Academy, he held an appointment as the Assistant Secretary of Policy and Program Development in the Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs.

Call Resources

• September 2006 Monthly Call Notes (PDF) or (Word)
• Call audio is unavailable for this call.

Deficit Reduction Act Call Presentation (PDF) or (Powerpoint)
This presentation by Robert Mollica of the National Academy for State Health Policy, addresses the background and opportunites for ADRCs under the DRA of 2005.
Edited Sept-11-2006

Feedback

Number of Respondents: 14

Importance of options counseling to the implementation of your ADRC project:

43 percent - Very important
50 percent - Somewhat important
7 percent - Not important at all

Depth of information appropriate to background in the subject:

13 percent - Assumed too much prior knowledge
73 percent - Provided sufficient background as well as new information
13 percent - Material was more basic than needed


Sufficiency of information to the concepts to your project:

69 percent - There was sufficient information
31 percent - I would have liked more information

Format of the call (panel discussion followed by Q&A):

100 percent - Liked the format

Suggestions for changes to the structure of the conference call:

• "There did not seem to be any information as to how this was going to relate to the ADRC project."

Speaker rating:

20 percent - Excellent
53 percent - Very Good
27 percent - Good
0 percent - Fair
0 percent - Poor

Interest in additional resources:

58 percent - Would be interested
42 percent - Not interested

Suggestions for additional useful resources:

• "Long Term Care"
• "As more information becomes available, it would be helpful to know specifics about what states applied for funding, project timelines, objectives, etc., so that ADRCs can be informed and then determind their appropriate roles."
• "I want to learn everything regarding the DRA that affects seniors and caregivers."
• "A synopsis of the changes related to eligibility determination/ tightening of asset protection loopholes - a bit more detailed than in Bob's presentation slides and in plain English."
• "When the information about ADRCs and how HCBS will be done without the waiver is complete, I would be very interested."
• "Rather than asking the question 'What role will ADRC play?' it would be nice to have suggested roles, given the goals of various programs, e.g. MFP."

Suggestions about what kinds of reports/products for us to develop related to the DRA:

• "Perhaps a chart of states with ADRC grants and DRA programs cross-referenced with activities the ADRCs are doing to support DRA."

Suggestions for future monthly conference calls:

• Coordinating ADRC with transportation and/or housing
• Medicare D open enrollment starts November 15, which will impact many ADRCs