Scorecard Shows Which States Are Best At Long-Term Care Support

The report, developed by AARP and the SCAN Foundation, found that Minnesota, Washington, Oregon, Hawaii, Wisconsin, Iowa, Colorado and Maine are performing best in a variety of ways, but still have room to improve.

CQ HealthBeat: Report Scores States On Long-Term Care Support
A new state-by-state scorecard on long-term care released Thursday shows eight states at the top when it comes to doing best at providing services and support for the elderly and people with disabilities. Minnesota, Washington, Oregon, Hawaii, Wisconsin, Iowa, Colorado and Maine are performing best in a variety of ways, though they still have room to improve, says the scorecard developed by AARP, the Commonwealth Fund and the SCAN Foundation. There’s wide variation among states because there’s no uniform way to approach long-term care in the United States, the report says. Most of the policy issues in play in long-term care involve Medicaid, a federal-state program that pays for nursing home care and other services for low-income people and allows states to determine how they will provide that care (Norman, 9/8).

Kaiser Health News: Capsules: Seeking The Best Place For Long-Term Care? Head North
If you think there's a demand now for long-term care services, just wait 20 years. By the time baby boomers hit their 70s and 80s, there will be a huge surge in need. And, according to a report released today, in many places there isn’t nearly enough to help to go around (Galewitz, 9/8). 

Georgia Health News: Ga. Scores Low On Senior', Disable Services
A new report ranks Georgia 42nd in the nation for long-term care services for older people and adults with disabilities. ... The rankings follow several other health care measurements that have put the Peach State in the lower half of states. ... Georgia's score lagged because of low rankings on measures such as percent of caregivers who usually or always get needed support (47th); the number of people with disabilities allowed by the state to direct their own services (41st); and the number of home health and personal care aides (45th) (Miller, 9/8).

The Connecticut Mirror: Connecticut's Long-Term Care System Ranks 11th In U.S.
The report noted that even the highest-performing states had room to improve. In Connecticut, AARP State Director Brenda Kelley cited the need to give people more choice in the type of setting for them to receive long-term care and the types of services they receive. "In Connecticut, our long-term care system is heavily skewed toward institutional care, while if given a choice, most people would prefer to receive less costly services that allow them to stay in their own homes and communities," she said. (Levin Becker, 9/8).

HealthyCal: How California Ranks On Long Term Care And Support
California ranked 15th overall among the states. ... But that overall ranking masked a wide divergence in the state's performance in the specific categories. California was in the top quarter of states on 10 indicators – mostly those involving affordability, access and choice — and in the bottom quartile on 8 indicators, primarily those involving quality of life and the quality of care that disabled and older adults receive (Weintraub, 9/8). 

(Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.) Star Tribune: Top Marks For MN In Elderly Care
Minnesota leads the nation in long-term care for older and disabled people — and illustrates how the nation could cut costs by offering better care and coordination, according to a national study released Thursday. As many as 200,000 people could be kept out of nursing homes each year, for instance, if other states emulated Minnesota with better information about home-care options, the report found. Minnesota ranked first on seven of the 25 measures in the report, released Thursday by AARP, the Commonwealth Fund and the Scan Foundation. The state offers a higher quality of care, better access, more choices of settings and more support for family caregivers than do most states (Wolfe, 9/8).