STATE PILOTS SUBSIDY FOR HOME CARE OF ELDERLY, DISABLED
A new program enacted by the state Executive Office of Elder Affairs and the Office of Medicaid is aimed at easing the financial burden on caretaker families by paying them about $18,000 a year to care for an elderly or adult disabled family member at home. The pilot program will benefit several dozen families when instituted statewide on December 1. The “Enhanced Adult Family Care Program” addresses a growing shortage of paid professional caregivers, and the wishes of many elderly people to spend their last days at home.
"It just takes the pressure off," said Al Norman , executive director of Mass Home Care, an association of nonprofit providers. "You don't have to find new caregivers, you don't have to find new housing -- you're maximizing existing resources to keep people out of foster care homes."
In December 2004, Mass Home Care proposed the program to the Executive Office of Elder Affairs after studying a similar plan in Oregon. Representative Barbara L'Italien, Democrat of Andover, introduced an amendment to the budget for fiscal year 2006, and the state Senate and House agreed to provide the program at least $2 million a year.
MassHealth, which runs the program, anticipates about 30 new enrollees each month.
"Even with the $18,000, if you think of it as a wage, it's still abysmally low, but this is the best we can do," Norman said. "We're going to improve on it and build on it in time."
Compared with existing adult foster care support, the program broadens the spectrum of caregivers to include most family members and friends, other thana spouse, parent, or legally responsible relative. Elders and persons with disabilities may move into a caregiver's home or the caregiver may move in with the participant.
Eligibility:
- Disabled person must be least 16 years of age.
- Elder/disabled person must be financially and clinically eligible for MassHealth.
- Must require physical assistance with at least three of the following activities: bathing, dressing, toileting, transferring, ambulating, eating; OR physical assistance with two of the activities above AND management of behaviors that require caregiver intervention such as wandering, verbally abusive behavioral symptoms, physically abusive behavioral symptoms, socially inappropriate or disruptive behavioral symptoms, or resisting care.
- Caregivers may be any friend or family member other than a spouse, parent, or legally responsible relative, and must meet qualifications specified by the state.
The new program also provides caregivers with support from healthcare professionals by linking them via computer to a nationwide network of credentialed care managers, known as SeniorLink.
-Adapted from “ State to test subsidy program for home care of elderly, disabled” By April Simpson, The Boston Globe, November 22, 2006 and Executive Office of Health and Human Services 11/20/06 press release “Elder Affairs and the Office of Medicaid Launch Enhanced Adult Family Care”, at http://archive.boston.com/yourlife/health/aging/articles/2006/11/22/state_to_test_subsidy_program_for_home_care_of_elderly_disabled/
11/06