Tennessee Officials Agree To Begin Providing More At-Home Services to Elderly, Disabled Residents

Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen (D) and officials from the Tennessee Justice Center last week reached a tentative settlement that would launch the state's "first ... steps" toward providing more home-based care for state residents who are elderly or disabled, the AP/Tennessean reports. Advocates for people who are elderly or disabled and several state lawmakers "have tried for years" to establish an at-home care program to help elderly and disabled state residents cook, bathe, take medicine or get out of bed or to provide respite for family members who provide at-home care, according to the AP/Tennessean. "We know what's needed. But politically we've had a great deal of difficulty organizing those services in a way that they can actually be available in some sort of practical manner," Gordon Bonnyman, of the Tennessee Justice Center, said. Under the agreement, the state will create a budget-neutral at-home care program under TennCare, the state's Medicaid managed care program. According to Helen Wingard, state director of AARP Tennessee, state officials have vowed to provide at-home services "whenever possible" and to move toward eliminating "inappropriate placement" of people who are elderly and disabled in nursing homes. Bredesen said funding for the effort will come from the approximately $1 billion the state spends on long-term care under TennCare. Bredesen said the initial program will be a small pilot program, adding, "We all agree we need more home- and community-based services. We all agree it's a good thing. But I'm trying to solve problems in TennCare as opposed to starting something up that becomes another festering problem" (Sharp, AP/Tennessean, 9/1).