HHS Sends $36 Million to States to Help Alzheimer’s
Patients, Seniors, Veterans Stay at Home
Targets people not eligible for Medicaid, but are at
high risk of nursing home placement
Sept.
29, 2008 - The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today
announced $36 million in new grant programs to 28 states to help older
Americans and veterans remain independent and to support people with
Alzheimer’s disease to remain in their homes and communities. Just over
$19 million of this funding involves a new collaboration with the U.S.
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt and VA Secretary James
Peake, M.D., announced the joint effort to provide essential
consumer-directed home and community-based services to older Americans
and veterans of all ages, as part of a Nursing Home Diversion (NHD)
grants program.
The new initiative builds on the similar missions
of HHS and the VA with regard to caring for the populations they serve.
In addition, Secretary Leavitt announced a $17 million investment to
improve the delivery of home and community-based services to people with
Alzheimer’s disease and their family caregivers.
In announcing the collaboration, Secretary Leavitt
said, “This historic HHS-VA initiative combines the expertise of the HHS’
national network of aging services providers with the resources of the
Veterans Health Administration to provide more people, including our
nation’s veterans, with improved long-term care options.
This unique effort supports the President’s New
Freedom Initiative which calls upon all federal agencies to help people
who need long-term care and prefer to live in their own homes and
communities to do so. Through this joint program, many people who would
have previously been placed in nursing homes will be able to remain at
home.”
“Our mission is to honor and support America’s
veterans, and this collaboration provides an additional opportunity to
do that by offering more services, choices and control over decisions to
veterans in the least restrictive environment consistent with their
needs and preferences,” Secretary Peake said.
The
new program will be administered by HHS’ Administration on Aging (AoA)
in collaboration with the Veterans Health Administration. Under the
program, $10.5 million is being provided by HHS through AoA, and $5.7
million by the states.
VA estimates purchasing at least $3 million in
veteran-directed home and community-based services for older veterans
and for recently returned veterans with long-term care needs. The number
of veterans over age 85 has tripled during the past decade, creating a
significant expansion in the need for long term care.
“The HHS funding is specifically designed to reach
people who are not eligible for Medicaid, but who are at high risk of
nursing home placement and spend-down to Medicaid -which often occurs
when private pay individuals enter a nursing home,” said Assistant
Secretary for Aging Josefina G. Carbonell.
“The program will also offer consumers more control
over their long-term care, including the ability to determine the types
of services they receive and the manner in which they receive them,
including the option of hiring their own care workers.”
The $17 million for individuals with Alzheimer’s
disease and their caregivers involves grants to 22 states under AoA’s
Alzheimer’s disease demonstration programs. States were able to apply
for two types of grants: Innovation Grants and Evidence-Based Program
Grants. Innovation Grants will demonstrate new approaches to delivering
services and supports, and the Evidence-Based Grants will support the
replication of science-based interventions that have already proven to
be effective at helping people with Alzheimer's Disease and Related
Disorders to continue to live in the community.
Funding for the Nursing Home Diversion grants
program for 2008 is as follows:
State
Federal Share
State Share
Project Total
Arkansas*
$569,437
$188,539
$757,976
Connecticut*
$649,398
$216,692
$866,090
Florida*
$927,710
$307,163
$1,234,873
Georgia
$590,755
$704,259
$1,295,014
Louisiana
$927,710
$311,080
$1,238,790
Massachusetts*
$885,165
$1,280,832
$2,165,997
Michigan*
$649,398
$741,880
$1,391,278
New Hampshire
$649,398
$216,466
$865,864
New Jersey*
$565,151
$191,963
$757,114
New York*
$927,710
$420,307
$1,348,017
Ohio
$610,265
$206,413
$816,678
Texas*
$923,708
$308,187
$1,231,895
Virginia*
$759,493
$314,436
$1,073,929
Washington*
$912,813
$302,370
$1,215,183
Grand Total
$10,548,111
$5,710,587
$16,258,698
In addition, the VA will be awarding $3 million to
the States marked with an asterisk (*).
Alzheimer’s Disease Demonstration
Grants to States Awards for 2008:
State
Evidence-Based Grant Federal Share
Innovation Grant Federal Share
State Share
Project Total
Alabama
$236,253
$94,905
$331,158
Arizona
$250,000
$99,437
$349,437
California
$714,311
$234,382
$610,302
$1,558,995
Florida
$733,214
$386,181
$1,119,395
Georgia
$730,724
$252,672
$626,113
$1,609,509
Indiana
$218,714
$84,299
$303,013
Louisiana
$236,253
$199,420
$435,673
Maine
$714,391
$236,236
$583,469
$1,534,096
Massachusetts
$234,627
$97,420
$332,047
Michigan
$656,193
$467,088
$1,123,281
Minnesota
$1,030,906
$236,253
$688,990
$1,956,149
Missouri
$236,327
$94,276
$330,603
Nevada
$110,857
$64,611
$175,468
North Carolina
$936,187
$301,672
$638,289
$1,876,148
Ohio
$680,827
$238,452
$673,174
$1,592,453
Oklahoma
$152,975
$59,554
$212,529
Rhode Island
$182,809
$90,295
$273,104
South Carolina
$383,912
$154,220
$538,132
Tennessee
$236,253
$88,201
$324,454
Utah
$292,355
$189,494
$481,849
Virginia
$236,253
$94,993
$331,246
Washington
$289,497
$132,046
$421,543
Grand Total
$6,446,753
$4,546,752
$6,216,777
$17,210,282
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Sept.
29, 2008 - The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today
announced $36 million in new grant programs to 28 states to help older
Americans and veterans remain independent and to support people with
Alzheimer’s disease to remain in their homes and communities. Just over
$19 million of this funding involves a new collaboration with the U.S.
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
The
new program will be administered by HHS’ Administration on Aging (AoA)
in collaboration with the Veterans Health Administration. Under the
program, $10.5 million is being provided by HHS through AoA, and $5.7
million by the states.