2009 Legislative Priorities
Increase Home and Community Care Block Grant Funding in Order to Help
Reduce Waiting Lists:
NCAOA supports an additional $5,000,000 to expand Home and Community Care Block Grant (HCCBG) services. The HCCBG funds a range of services primarily for socially and economically needy (non-Medicaid) older adults who cannot afford to pay for the essential in-home and community based and/or caregiver support services they need in order to stay at home and function as independently as possible. Examples of these services include in-home personal care, home management and in-home respite care, adult day services, group and institutional respite, congregate and home-delivered meals, medical and general transportation, and information and care management services. There is still a substantial and growing number of older adults who have unmet service needs for community based services. In addition, local providers are being challenged to maintain current service levels given the rising cost of fuel, food and other operating expenses. This appropriation would provide orderly growth for service delivery and allows community based service providers to expand services on a priority-of-needs basis.
Appropriate Additional
NCAOA supports the recommendation of the NC Division of Aging and Adult Services to restructure the Senior Center General Purpose Funding allocation with additional funds to support centers in the state that are certified as “Senior Centers of Excellence” or “Senior Centers of Merit.” This recurring funding is designed to support the infrastructure of our best senior centers as they perform vital roles as vehicles for the delivery of aging services in our communities. Such funding rewards and recognizes excellence in centers, and encourages other centers to become certified, while leaving intact basic support for non-certified centers in the state.
Provide $500,000 in Recurring State Funding for Project C.A.R.E. as a
Support for Family Caregivers of Persons with Alzheimer’s Disease and Other
Dementias:
NCAOA supports making the non-recurring $500,000 in state appropriations recurring in the first year of the biennium, and then $800,000 recurring in the second year to accommodate expansion to other counties as well as to maintain the existing program. The program has been successfully implemented in fourteen (14) western counties, serving over 1,800 families through 95 local provider agencies. Federal funding for the program ended in June 2008, and the General Assembly appropriated $500,000 in non-recurring funding. If funding is not sustained by the state, over 500 Project C.A.R.E. families will lose critical support and respite services. With an annual recurring state appropriation of $500,000, Project C.A.R.E. will be able to: 1) sustain the existing three program sites currently serving 14 counties; 2) pursue federal funding for program expansion; 3) use federal expansion funding to establish new program sites in eastern North Carolina; and 4) progress toward statewide implementation.
Provide Funds to
Pilot Adult Protective Services Reform Needed to Respond to an Increasing
Number of Abused, Neglected and Exploited Vulnerable and Elder Adults:
NCAOA supports funding to plan, implement and evaluate a time limited nine county Department of Social Services (DSS) pilot of a new system of Adult Protective Services (APS) urgently needed to improve NC’s ability to respond to the increasingly recognized and reported abuse, neglect and exploitation of vulnerable adults. Funding will provide needed staff at the local and state levels to carry out the pilot, enhance community education and public awareness, and establish an APS Essential Services Fund in the pilot counties. The recommended reforms to be piloted will create a comprehensive, multifaceted, community based system of protection and response, including provisions for information and referral services, outreach services, and intervention services. The reform, the Vulnerable Adult Protection System (VAPS), and the concept for the nine county pilot were developed and recommended to the NC Study Commission on Aging by the NC APS Task Force. Bi-partisan bills were introduced to provide funding for an APS pilot during the 2007 and 2008 sessions of the General Assembly, but were not acted upon.
Support Area Agencies
on Aging (AAAs) to Help Counties Plan for the Growth in the Aging Population:
NCAOA supports NCDAAS recommendations to help AAAs gain capacity to assist counties to plan for the major shift in age demographics. As established in NCDAAS’ Report to the North Carolina General Assembly on Recommendations for a Statewide Aging, “while state-level interest and leadership are essential, no less important is assuring adequate local and regional capacity for using the information and other tools provided to plan and respond to the aging population. A key component is the resources available for NC’s 17 Area Agencies on Aging and the Councils of Government to facilitate local and regional planning that involves not only local governments but also the private sector. It is noteworthy, for example, that despite an increase of $300,000 in State support of AAAs awarded during the 2007 Legislative Session, State support for AAAs is still $270,000 less than what they received in 2001. Today, State support for AAAs totals $772,200, on an average of $45,423 per AAA. These limited funds help support a wide range of duties of which planning is but one—others include compliance monitoring and quality assurance in the administration of the Home and Community Care Block Grant and other service funds; provision of information and assistance (including serving as regional data hubs and major data contributors to NC CareLink, the Department’s web-based community resource database); resource, program, and systems development; public/consumer and provider education and training (e.g., AAAs continue to have an important role in Medicare Part D outreach, education, and counseling); and special projects (e.g., evidence-based Chronic Disease Self-Management). The strength of local planning for aging statewide is certainly affected by the capacity of AAAs to assist.”
Support Funding for the Creation, Continuation & Expansion of
Community Resource Connections:
NCAOA supports funding to assist
local communities in establishing “Community Resource Connections” in
association with the federal emphasis on