New Hampshire

NEW HAMPSHIRE’S SUPPORT NETWORK

• New Hampshire Family Caregiver Support Program

Offers: Adult day, in-home, overnight and weekend in-facility (assisted living or skilled nursing) respite options, all of which are currently capped at $1,500 per year; other services include assistive technology, supplies, emergency response, home modification/repairs, information and assistance, transportation homemaker/chore/ personal care, and family consultation, education and support groups.

Funded by: National Family Caregiver Support Program under Older Americans Act Title III E and state general funds; administered at the state and local levels by the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services/Bureau of Elderly and Adult Services.

Eligibility: Caregivers must be age 18 or older. Care recipients must be age 60 or older and have impairment in two activities of daily living for respite/supplemental services or a diagnosis of dementia or related disorder and/or require supervision for all other services.

• Elderly and Chronically Ill Waiver

Offers: Adult day, in-home, overnight and weekend (infacility) respite options, capped at 480 hours per year; other services include assistive technology, emergency response, home modification, homemaker/personal care, care management and counseling.

Funded by: Medicaid home and community-based services waiver and state general funds; administered at the state and local levels by the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services/Bureau of Elderly and Adult Services.

Eligibility: Caregivers and care receivers must be age 18 or older; care receivers must have impairment in at least one activity of daily living.

• Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Memory Disorders Program

Offers: Adult day, in-home, overnight and weekend in-facility respite options, capped at $1,200 per year; other services provided include care management and counseling.

Funded by: State general funds; administered at the state and local levels by the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services/Bureau of Elderly and Adult Services.

Eligibility: Caregivers must live with the care recipient.  Care receiver must be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or related disorder.

• Grandparent and Other Relative Caregiver Support Programs

Offers: Respite care and other support services designed to address the needs of grandparent and other relative caregivers of children. See www.gu.org/factsheets.asp for details on New Hampshire programs.

Funded by: Older Americans Act Title III E, state general revenues, and other sources. The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services/Bureau of Elderly and Adult Services administers the Family Caregiver Support Program.

Eligibility: Grandparent and other relative caregivers must be a minimum of age 60 and caring for a child age 18 or younger to receive services in the Family Caregiver Support Program.

CONSUMER DIRECTION

Consumer direction is a philosophy that accommodates people’s needs and preferences by offering them maximum choice and control over services they use. The three New Hampshire caregiver support programs offer some level of consumer direction.

• New Hampshire Family Caregiver Support Program offers caregivers a menu of services from which to choose, vouchers or budgets for respite and/or supplemental services, and a choice of respite providers.
• Elderly and Chronically Ill Waiver provides a voucher or budget for respite and/or supplemental services.
• Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Memory Disorders Program provides caregivers a choice of respite services through a home health agency, adult day program or a long-term care facility.

LEGISLATION

• NH H.B. 569 (Enacted 2001): Established a committee to study the information, training and support needs of family caregivers in New Hampshire.
• NH H.B. 635 (Enacted 2001): Requires the Department of Health and Human Services to establish “family mutual support services” to support families in their roles as primary caregivers of adults and children with mental conditions and grants rulemaking authority to the commissioner of the department for the purposes of the bill.
• NH H.B. 1435 (Enacted 2002): Extends the reporting dates of certain study committees including the Information, Training, and Support Needs of Family Caregivers Study.

Sources: National Association of State Units on Aging, e-mail survey of State Family Caregiver Support Program contacts, Washington, D.C., June 2005; National Center on Grandparents Raising Grandchildren at Georgia State University, Research—Fact Sheets, Atlanta, Ga., 2005; Feinberg, Lynn Friss, et al., The State of the States in Family Caregiver Support: A 50-State Study, Washington, D.C.: Family Caregiver Alliance, National Center on Caregiving, 2004; Generations United, National Center on Grandparents and Other Relatives Raising Children, State Fact Sheets, Washington, D.C., October 2003; National Family Caregivers Association, Prevalence and Economic Value of Family Caregiving: State-by-State Analysis, Kensington, Md., 2000; U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000.

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