FDDC: $60 Million in Grants Available

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From: Florida

Developmental Disabilities Council

Sent: Thursday, June 03, 2010 4:17 PM

To: denisekarp@...

Subject: $60 Million in Grants Available

FOR

IMMEDIATE

RELEASE

Contact: HHS Press Office

Thursday, June 3,

2010

Announcement

from the

Florida

Developmental Disabilities Council

For

more information, please contact

HHS

Press Office *

HHS announces

availability of $60 million in Affordable Care Act Grants

to help people

navigate their health and long-term care options

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the availability

of $60 million in Affordable Care Act grants to states and communities to

help individuals and their caregivers better understand and navigate

their health and long-term care options.

Through this opportunity made possible by the Affordable Care Act HHS'

Administration on Aging (AoA) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid

Services (CMS) will work collaboratively to award funds for an integrated

approach that focuses on the unique needs of seniors, disabled Americans

and their caregivers as they seek health care and long-term care.

" The Affordable Care Act seeks to lower health care costs, improve

the quality of health care and perhaps most importantly give people more

control over their own care. These new grants, authorized under the new

law, will help seniors, individuals with disabilities and their families

get better quality care and more control. We've also streamlined the

process for states and people who rely on these funds, " said

Secretary Sebelius.

" We know how difficult it can be for caregivers and patients to try

and deal with a sudden illness or chronic disease while at the same time

trying to navigate through a complex health care system to figure out

where you can get help. These new funds that we have bundled together

will help promote better opportunities for coordination of health and

long-term supports, " said Sebelius.

The purpose of this new grant program authorized by the Affordable Care

Act is to create streamlined, coordinated statewide systems of

information, counseling, and access that will help people find

consumer-friendly answers they seek to meet their health and long-term

care needs. AoA and CMS will administer the funding through

separate announcements, but will coordinate implementation and monitoring

through a single process.

Some specific areas of focus will include assisting individuals who are

under-served and hard to reach with information about their Medicare and

Medicaid benefits, helping older adults and individuals with disabilities

live at home or in settings of their choosing with the right supports,

assisting people transition from hospital or nursing home stays back into

the community, and strengthening linkages between the medical and social

service systems.

" When it comes to long-term health care, each patient has a unique

mix of complex medical and social needs that must be considered when

seeking care, " said Marilyn Tavenner, acting CMS administrator.

" Our health care system can offer many options to meeting those

needs from traditional nursing home care to home and community-based

services. Making patients and their families aware of these options

will help them make inherently difficult decisions about long-term

care. This integrated program will help families make informed

choices and make sure patients have more control over their own care. "

AoA and CMS have provided grants to states for several years to develop

person-centered systems of information, counseling and access to make it

easier for individuals to learn about and access their health and

long-term services and support options. This grant program through the

Affordable Care Act strengthens and enhances the ability of states to

truly integrate the medical and social services care models.

" AoA's national network of community-based organizations has long

served as the central place for individuals and families seeking

information and help to address health and long term care

challenges. This collaborative opportunity between AoA and CMS will

further strengthen the network's capacity to help people in a more

coordinated and comprehensive way in the communities where they

live, " said Kathy Greenlee, assistant secretary for aging.

Funds will be available to states, area agencies on aging (aaa's),

State Health Insurance Assistance Programs (SHIPs) and Aging and

Disability Resource Centers (ADRCs). Through the grant

program, states and local aging and disability programs will receive

funds to:

*provide outreach and assistance to

Medicare beneficiaries on their Medicare

benefits

including prevention;

*use additional funds

through a competitive process to

provide Options Counseling on health and long-term care

through ADRCs;

*use additional funds through a

competitive process to strengthen the ADRCs role

in Money

follows the Person program and support state Medicaid agencies as

they

transition individuals from nursing homes to community-based care;

and

*coordinate and continue to embed

tested Care Transition models that integrate

the medical

and social service systems to help older individuals and those with

disabilities remain in their own homes and communities after a

hospital,

rehabilitation or skilled nursing facility visit.

" CMS and AoA share a long-standing goal of expanding access to

community-based care for the elderly and individuals with

disabilities. The Affordable Care Act provides significant

resources for state Medicaid agencies and providers to balance the

nation's long-term care systems and assure that individuals have a choice

of where and how they receive their services, " said Mann,

director of CMS's Center for Medicaid, CHIP, and Survey and

Certification.

The announcement combines funding opportunities from several provisions

in the Affordable Care Act signed into law by President Obama on March

23, 2010,including the Role of Public Programs (Title II, Sections 2403 -

Money Follows the Person and 2405 - Funding for Aging and Disability

Resource Centers) and Improving the Quality and Efficiency of Health Care

(Title III. Section 3306 - Funding for Outreach and Assistance for

Low-Income Programs).

These grants also complement President Obama's " Year of Community

Living Initiative, " which focuses on better serving those

individuals with disabilities who need ongoing services and support

programs in the community such as those provided by AoA, CMS and other

HHS

agencies.

The deadline for applications is: Monday, July 30, 2010. Grants

will be awarded in September 2010. For more information about this

grant opportunity, please visit http://www.aoa.gov/AoARoot/Grants/Funding/index.aspx

or www.grants.gov.

To learn more about the Affordable Care Act, please visit

www.healthreform.gov. Note: All HHS press releases,

fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.

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