Real
Choice Systems Change
ARKANSAS
Grant
Information
Name of Grantee
Department
of Human Services
Division of Aging and Adult Services
Title of Grant
Real
Choice for Enduring Change in Arkansas
Type of Grant
Real
Choice Systems Change
Amount of Grant
$1,025,000
Year Original Funding
Received
2001
Amount of Supplemental Grant
$360,000
Supplemental Award Received
2002
Contact
Information
Debbie Hopkins, Program Administrator
501–682–8152
debbie.hopkins@arkansas.gov
Cindy Young, Project Coordinator
PO Box 1437,
Slot S530
Little Rock, AR 72203–1437
501–682–8231
cindy.young@arkansas.gov
Subcontractor(s)
Partners for Inclusive Communities/University of Arkansas
for Medical Sciences
Area Agency on Aging of South West Arkansas
RTZ Associates, Inc.
National Academy of State Health Policy
University of Minnesota
Target
Population(s)
Adults age 19 and older.
Goals
- Achieve a better
balance of spending between institutions and home and community settings.
- Increase the
availability of in-home workers.
- Improve or maintain
the health of elderly persons who are dual-eligibles by exploring a model
of voluntary Medicaid/Medicare integrated system.
- Increase consumer
self-determination including a statewide training program in advocacy.
- Design and implement a
single point of contact to provide consumers with comprehensive,
up-to-date, unbiased information for optimal decision making and choice.
Activities
- Identify successful
strategies to recruit and retain in-home workers, including those that
focus on wages, benefits, training, and the establishment of a career
path.
- Establish a worker
registry.
- Develop a replicable
model for a voluntary Medicaid/Medicare integrated system that efficiently
manages the costs of services, with focus on PACE.
- Provide technical
assistance and training regarding consumer self-determination practices to
consumers and advocacy organizations.
- Develop an assessment
process based on consumer preferences.
- Develop and implement
a Web-based directory of services for use by consumers, family members,
providers, and discharge planners.
- Complete studies
regarding ways to optimize funding flexibility, such as money follows the
person, to help ensure least restrictive service settings, and allow
consumers to transition from one system/setting to another.
- Model methods to speed
eligibility and entry for home and community based waiver services.
Abstract
The Real Choice project will address a number of problems Arkansas experiences in
delivering long-term care services. Relevant agencies have come together with
consumer groups and other public and private partners to plan for systems
change that will promote informed consumer choice and higher quality services.
The project will address issues related to access, availability, quality,
value, and consumer participation.
The Real Choice grant for Arkansas will address the need for a single
point of contact for home and community-based care, timely and flexible
eligibility determination, ease of access to services, and appropriate
determination of services people want and need. Strategies we intend to employ
are the use of federal options over more restrictive State options, a
feasibility study to integrate Medicare and Medicaid services for seniors,
training staff across divisions of the Department of Human Services (DHS) to
promote understanding of alternatives available, an education outreach program
to community resource staff, development of new assessment tools to determine
optional settings for people entering the system and those already institutionalized,
a study to explore the options for providing insurance to front line workers, a
public awareness campaign to elevate the status of such occupations with the
general public, development of a State worker registry, and strengthening of
individual consumers and consumer advocacy groups in effective action at the
law and policy-making levels.
Significant and sustainable outcomes will include a system
that encourages greater consumer control and choice and services that will
enable people to enjoy improved overall health and long-term care in their
communities for a longer period.