ILLINOIS
The Budget
Faced with a $5 billion budget deficit for FY 2004, incoming Governor Rod R. Blagojevich in an April 9, 2003, budget address, directed each state agency and department to cut administrative costs by 10 percent on average. For the Department of Aging, he proposed $6.24 million in cuts to come from reductions in administrative costs and a reduction of personnel from 126 to 114. Nonetheless, the Department of Aging budget was to increase by $7.3 million over FY 2003.
The proposed budget did, however, call for increased support for home health programs. Funding was increased by $56 million for the Home Services Program, for example, to help 24,000 individuals with physical disabilities, developmental disabilities, mental illness, AIDs, and traumatic brain injury to remain at home rather than be institutionalized. Medicaid increases proposed by the governor for the Department of Public Aid would allow the state, he said, to reimburse hospitals and nursing homes more promptly than in the past. The goal was payment within 60 days or less. Governor Blagojevich did not propose cutting payment rates for nursing homes.
2002 Legislation
Illinois legislators reacted to state fiscal problems in 2002 by reducing the nursing home reimbursement rate by 5.9 percent, effective July 1, 2002. The legislature also required the state to implement a new payment methodology for the nursing component of a nursing facility's rate, effective July 1, 2003. The Illinois Department of Public Aid must develop the new payment methodology using minimum data set information.
The legislature also created the Innovations in Long-Term Care Quality Grants Act, which requires the director of public health to fund long-term care programs that demonstrate creativity in providing services. The funds to finance the grants will come from fines collected under the Nursing Home Care Act.
Planning and Reports
A State Interagency Team composed of representatives of six Illinois state agencies released its "Community Living and Disabilities Plan" in April 2002. The plan, which establishes a framework to achieve greater integration of people with disabilities into the community, culminated a two-year planning process that involved consumers, family members, service providers and the state agencies.
The plan includes recommended priorities from each of the six agencies involved in the process. The priorities include increased funding for community-based programs and services, improved transitional assistance for people who want to move out of institutions, focus on self-directed care, and increased consumer control. Upon releasing the plan, then-Governor George Ryan created a permanent Disabilities Services Advisory Committee to provide ongoing oversight of the plan and its implementation.
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