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November 2007

Unified Long-term Care Budget Update

The Unified Long-term Care Budget workgroup has met several times since first convening in September.

The first meeting was a discussion of meeting ground rules and an overview of the decision roadmap the workgroup would follow in creating the Budget. At the second meeting, the most fundamental question was addressed: Who will be covered under the long-term services and supports budget?

The workgroup reviewed data from Scripps Gerontology Center at Miami University that pertains to Ohioans with severe disabilities who need long-term services and supports. The need and use of long-term services and supports is not limited to one population, such as the elderly. A number of populations need these supports and that need is expected to increase with time.

The workgroup agreed that the unified budget needed to be inclusive, that is, all Ohioans in need of long-term services and supports should be covered.

The workgroup envisioned a multi-phase approach to the development of a unified long-term care budget, with each phase focusing on a different group.

1. Those age 65 or older and younger adults with a physical disability who currently use long-term services and supports in nursing facilities, as well as in home- and community-based settings;
2. Ohioans with chronic mental illness;
3. Ohioans with intellectual/developmental disabilities; and
4. Non-Medicaid funded services.

The workgroup's third and fourth meetings focused on what services long-term care should include.

The workgroup must present its findings to the Governor and the Joint Committee on Medicaid Technology and Reform by June 1, 2008.

For information and updates as the workgroup progresses, visit www.goldenbuckeye.com/ultcb/.

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