Human Services

Continuing Care

Statewide Outcome(s):

Continuing Care supports the following statewide outcome(s).

Minnesotans are healthy.

Strong and stable families and communities.

Context:

Continuing Care serves older Minnesotans and Minnesotans with disabilities who need long-term care services, including persons with physical or developmental disabilities, impairment due to chronic illness, deafness or hearing loss, mental illness and HIV/AIDS. These populations have a variety of needs including assistance with activities of daily living such as bathing and dressing, communication assistance, medical needs and behavioral supports, and advocacy and protective services. Continuing care services help support these populations to remain independent in their communities and so avoid costly institutionalization. Minnesota is required by federal law to provide services to eligible seniors and people with disabilities through Medicaid.

The Continuing Care Administration (CCA) is the administration within the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) responsible for long-term care programs and services for people with disabilities and older Minnesotans with a variety of different needs and their families. The CCA mission is to improve the dignity, health and independence of the people we serve.

The Continuing Care Administration has four goals:

·         Support and enhance the quality of life for older people and people with disabilities;

·         Manage an equitable and sustainable long-term care system that maximizes value;

·         Continuously improve how we administer services; and

·         Promote professional excellence and engagement in our work.

The Continuing Care Administration is funded with state, federal and special revenue funds. The employees in Continuing Care administer more than $3.3 billion annually in state and federal funds serving over 400,000 Minnesotans annually.

Strategies:

Continuing Care functions are to:

1.     Administer Medical Assistance (MA) long-term care programs (waivers and state plan services), which includes developing, seeking authority for and implementing policies, projects, and research. This includes administering state and federal grants and contracts, including the new Money Follows the Person Rebalancing Demonstration Program

2.     Provide information, education, assistance, advocacy and direct service, including overseeing the state's adult protective services system.

3.     Manage nursing home, Intermediate Care Facilities for persons with Developmental Disabilities (ICF/DD), and Day Training and Habilitation (DT&H) provider rates.

4.     Assure service quality, conduct evaluations and measure results.

5.     Staff the Governor-appointed MN Board on Aging (http://www.mnaging.org), the Ombudsman for Long-Term Care, numerous stakeholder work groups, and the Commission of Deaf, Deafblind and Hard of Hearing Minnesotans, a state agency housed within DHS (http://mn.gov/deaf-commission).

6.     Provide administrative, financial, and operational management and support.

7.     Provide technical assistance to stakeholders.

In addition to the normal administrative functions, which apply to all people served, Continuing Care staff perform unique specialized activities. Direct service functions include:

·         Statewide regional service centers that help deaf, deafblind, and hard-of-hearing people access community resources and the human services system;

·         The Telephone Equipment Distribution Program, which helps people with hearing loss or communication disabilities access the telephone with specialized equipment;

·         HIV/AIDS programs that help people obtain and maintain needed health care coverage;

·         Older Minnesotan ombudsman services, which assist consumers in resolving complaints and preserving access to services; and

·         Online education in American Sign Language and advocacy in education, employment, health care, technology, public access, voter engagement and heritage.

Continuing Care supports the following strategies in the DHS Framework for the Future: 2012 (https://edocs.dhs.state.mn.us/lfserver/Public/DHS-6464-ENG):

·         Keep people fed and healthy by increasing nutrition assistance participation by seniors through targeted outreach efforts

·         Better protect vulnerable adults, especially those directly in our care

·         Increase the number of Minnesotans served in their homes and communities rather than in institutions

·         Implement MnCHOICES assessment model to better align services to individual needs

Results:

Continuing Care utilizes a variety of information sources and data to monitor and evaluate quality outcomes and provider performance to help us see how our strategies are working. Much of the information analyzed is from the DHS Data Warehouse or from various surveys of consumers, providers, and lead agencies.

Performance Measures Notes:

1.     Measure one compares 2010 data (Previous) to 2011 data (Current). 2010 data is earliest available. Source: Waiver review database

2.     Measure two compares CY 2008 data (Previous) to CY 2010 data (Current). Source: Minimum Data Set resident assessments.

3.     Measure three compares CY 2008 data (Previous) to CY 2011 data (Current). Measure includes all disability waiver programs. Source: DHS Data Warehouse.

More information is available on the DHS Dashboard: http://dashboard.dhs.state.mn.us/ and the Continuing Care Performance Report: http://www.dhs.state.mn.us/main/dhs16_166609#