LTSS

Each edition of the AARP Public Policy Institute's Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS) State Scorecard has measured state performance against an objective, data-driven set of metrics that illustrate how states were doing with their LTSS systems at a given time. This paper discusses the approach to the 2023 edition of the Scorecard, reflects on what has changed since the Scorecard was first published, and considers the possibilities of future editions.

Much innovation in the LTSS system has originated at local levels and later reached the national level after testing and support from the government, foundations and others. A new paper reviews five innovative LTSS programs to explore how they were successfully scaled up and implemented in more places. This report builds on the widely accepted model for understanding the expansion of an innovation developed by sociologist E.M. Rogers, who coined the phrase “early adopter.” Its five recommendations adapt Rogers’s framework to selecting and promoting LTSS innovations.

On Monday, August 22, 2022 CMS released the Money Follows the Person (MFP): Updated State Transitions annual report for calendar years 2017 to 2020. The MFP demonstration, established by Congress through the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, enables state Medicaid programs to help Medicaid beneficiaries who live in institutions transition into the community, and gives people with disabilities and older adults more choice in deciding where to live and to receive long-term services and supports. From the time transitions began in 2008 to the end of 2020, states had transitioned 107,128 people to community living through MFP. The brief shows how MFP transitions varied by state and target population over time.

This report, written by RTI International and the Center for Health Care Strategies, combines information gathered from an environmental scan and case studies to provide an overview of the current landscape of Medicare Advantage Organizations (MAOs) that provide expanded supplemental benefits. It includes their initial experiences and challenges with developing and administering the benefits to their members.

NAMD has released a report on leveraging American Rescue Plan Act investments to drive lasting transformation for people with complex needs. In summer 2021, NAMD convened an Executive Working Group of state Medicaid LTSS experts and national thought leaders to identify a framework of options that states could use to respond to this opportunity to improve and strengthen these services. The framework explores how states can meet the needs of individuals to maximize their health.

The AARP Public Policy Institute recently launched a three-year initiative which aims to transform long term care in the United States. LTSS Choices will be a series of reports, blogs, videos, podcasts, and virtual convenings that seek to catalyze reform and spark ideas to modernize LTSS, long term services and supports. The goal is a long-term care system that provides a wide range of choices to meet the dynamic needs and preferences of consumers and their families.

ACL and the Lewin Group released a report highlighting key takeaways from the AARP 2020 LTSS State Scorecard on state efforts in establishing high-performing ADRC/NWD systems. The report compares current data with results from the 2017 LTSS State Scorecard. The report provides scores based on five domains in ADRC/NWD system functions. The report also shares promising practices/lessons learned from five states – Alabama, Georgia, Massachusetts, Ohio, and South Dakota.

AARP has released its fourth iteration of the Long-term Services and Supports Scorecard. This scorecard ranks states and DC in order from 1 to 51 on a wide range of issues pertaining to older adults and people with disabilities. The LTSS scorecard has five domains that states are ranked within, and each of those domains has multiple indicators that are used to derive the overall score.

This brief draws from interviews with states operating new and long-standing MLTSS programs to identify six major trends in the refinement of MLTSS and underlying LTSS delivery systems nationally. The states examined in this brief are strengthening their Medicaid MLTSS programs to serve more LTSS beneficiaries and facilitate the development of integrated care programs that reduce service fragmentation for Medicare-Medicaid enrollees, particularly through Medicare Advantage D-SNPs

This report examines how states can help finance LTSS. It analyzes emerging LTSS social insurance strategies in six states: Washington, Hawaii, Maine, California, Michigan, and Minnesota. The report includes information from 42 stakeholder interviews in these states and outlines lessons learned during the policy change process.