Ohio is serving elders better and in their own homes
Recent policy initiatives attract the attention of national advocates

Ohio's progress in improving long term services and supports for older and disabled adults is garnering national attention. Bonnie Kantor-Burman, director of the Ohio Department of Aging, was invited to speak at the AARP official release of Raising Expectations: A State Scorecard on Long-Term Services and Supports for Older Adults, People with Physical Disabilities, and Family Caregivers, in Washington, DC, sharing with national policymakers Ohio's successes in improving long-term services and supports for seniors and people with disabilities.

The report, published by AARP's Public Policy Institute, the Commonwealth Fund and the SCAN Foundation, is the first-ever scorecard of state performance on long-term services and supports. The scorecard assesses how and where states provide long-term care and services to older adults, adults with disabilities and caregivers. It provides benchmarks and suggests improvements for the future. The study measured 25 performance measures across four areas of long-term care: affordability and access, choice of setting and provider, quality of life and quality of care, and support given to family caregivers. Many of the indicators were being measured for the first time in a national study.

Ohio was ranked 35^th overall among all states based on data from 2009 and earlier, but this ranking does not take into account recent policy shifts. For example, the scorecard recommends that adding 14,000 more participants to our home- and community-based programs would bring us in line with the highest performing state. The most recent biennial budget enacted in July includes policy that will allow us to serve almost 13,000 more Ohioans in home- and community-based settings.

Ohio ranked 23^rd in support for family caregivers and 26^th in choice of setting and provider, while ranking 34^th in affordability and access and 37^th in quality of life and quality of care.

The scorecard reports that states with the highest level of performance have enacted public policies designed to:

• Improve access to services and choices in their delivery by directing state Medicaid programs to serve more people in need and offer alternatives to nursing homes that most consumers prefer.
• Establish a single point of system entry to help people find needed information and more easily access services.
• Improve support for family caregivers by offering legal protections as well as other services to address caregiver needs.

The highest ranked states overall were Minnesota, Washington, Oregon, Hawaii and Wisconsin.

Kantor-Burman's remarks are available online. The report's authors plan to update the rankings every two years. Information about each state is available at www.longtermscorecard.org.

Related Links

Raising Expectations: A State Scorecard on Long-Term Services and Supports Frequently Asked Questions

The Commonwealth Fund

The SCAN Foundation

About Aging Connection

Aging Connection, published regularly by the Ohio Department of Aging, connects professionals in Ohio’s aging network to information and resources that can help them care for and serve our older citizens. Topics include the latest resources and best pactices within the aging network, state and federal programs and benefits, pending and recent policy and legislation that may impact older Ohioans, the latest research in gerontology and aging issues and more.

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