Community-Based Long-Term Care

How Can the Federal Government Lend a Hand?

May 20, 2008, 10:00am - 11:30am

Public support for long-term care services is predominantly provided through the Medicaid program, which has historically financed nursing home care rather than services in homes and other community settings. Yet over the last decade, state Medicaid programs have worked to expand home and community-based long term care programs. States and community-level providers have also pioneered new approaches to delivering long-term care services, such as consumer-directed personal care services and radical reforms of nursing home-level services.

How can this progress be sustained and encouraged, especially through federal policy? Which state approaches offer the most promise for reducing the persistent institutional bias in our long-term care system? What can states do on their own to continue innovating? What roles do consumers and other stakeholders play?