Advocacy and Public Policy
Governor Orders Long Term Care Changes
In 2004, Governor Jennifer Granholm appointed a Medicaid Long Term Care Task Force to examine Michigan’s long term care system for seniors and people with disabilities and to make recommendations for change. The Task Force made recommendations to the Governor, and in June, 2005, the Governor issued an Executive Order to begin to make its recommendations a reality. The changes will give seniors and people with disabilities a more easily accessible system of care and more choices about where they live. Fewer seniors and people with disabilities will have to live in nursing homes because the supports they need are unavailable in their homes.
The first key change Governor Granholm ordered is creation of a state Office of Long-Term Care Supports and Services within the Department of Community Health (DCH). The Office was created, and Department Director Janet Olszewski appointed Michael J. Head as its director. The second item the Governor ordered is creation of a Long Term Care Task Force. You can read about its work at the Long Term Care Task Force Website.
The Task Force is charged to advise the new office; review and monitor implementation of the Task Force recommendations and quality assurance reviews of Michigan’s long-term care system; participate in preparation and review of an on-going, comprehensive statewide plan for long term care; obtain public input about long term care and provide for public awareness of the system; and serve as an effective and visible consumer advocacy body for long-term care in Michigan.
The Governor also ordered the Department and the new Office to establish 3 pilot “single point-of-entry” demonstration programs. The single point of entry pilot programs will establish one place for seniors and people with disabilities who need long term care services to go to get help figuring out what services they want and need, to find out what services they are eligible for, and to assist them in arranging to get the services. There is also new legislation that will eventually create Single Point of Entry offices throughout the state.
Nursing Home Transition
The Department of Community has money it receives from nursing homes that have been assessed penalties for violations of licensing requirements. The Department designates some of these funds to be used by Area Agencies on Aging to help transition people out of nursing homes back into their communities, with the supports they need.
March 2007
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