WISCONSIN
Long-term care planning efforts in Wisconsin in 2002 resulted in recommendations for expanding the Medicaid personal care program and for implementing consumer-directed services. An evaluation report on the pilot Family Care long-term care program in five Wisconsin counties showed waiting lists had been eliminated and resource centers under the program were successfully providing centralized information and assistance.
Planning and Reports
Under the direction of the 17-member Wisconsin Council on Long-Term Care, an ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) Title II Committee has been addressing disability issues in the state. Phase one of the committee's work identified measures to be taken by the state to assist people who currently are living in institutions. Phase one was completed in January 2002 with the release of Wisconsin's ADA Title II Plan.
Phase two of the committee's work focused on people who currently are living in the community but who are facing institutional placement unless adequate supportive services become available. The ADA committee investigated three areas: advancing the Medicaid personal care benefit, restructuring the state long-term care budgeting process, and advising the Department of Health and Family Services on the implementation of the phase one and phase two recommendations.
The committee's phase two work was completed in January 2003. Major recommendations involve expanding the Medicaid personal care benefit and pursuing Medicaid waivers to provide maximum flexibility under the program, including consumer-directed services. The committee also calls for monitoring and guiding the use of new funds to implement the phase one and phase two recommendations.
In December 2002, the Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau released the third Implementation Process Evaluation of the Family Care program, a redesign of the state's long-term care system for the elderly and adults with physical and developmental disabilities that is being operated as a pilot program in nine counties. The report was prepared by The Lewin Group, a national consulting and research firm retained to evaluate the program.
Focusing on program activities through June 2002, the report noted that waiting lists for services had been eliminated in the five pilot counties that have care management organizations. The Lewin Group also report that the resource centers in the pilot counties " ... have emerged as a successful model of centralized information and assistance." (In November 2002, the Wisconsin Council on Long-Term Care recommended that the Family Care program be made available statewide by 2010.)
State Administrative Agencies
The Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services announced a reorganization of the department in February 2003 to improve the management of long-term care, treatment, and other services for the elderly and people with disabilities. The new Division of Disability and Elder Services will manage the full continuum of community support and institutional care for the elderly and people with disabilities, including people with mental illness and substance abuse problems.
The merger combines the Division of Supportive Living, the Division of Care and Treatment Facilities, and the Center for Delivery Systems Development. The Division of Supportive Living is responsible for providing community-based services for the elderly and people with disabilities and also regulates nursing homes and other facilities that serve these populations. The Division of Care and Treatment Facilities is responsible for state-operated institutions that serve people with developmental disabilities and mental illness. The Center for Delivery systems Development oversees the Family Care program.
BACK TO INDEX
BACK TO REPORT
|
