Advancement of State Community Service Programs

The Center for the Advancement of State Community Service Programs brings together NASUA's efforts to support the development of state home and community based service programs and to end the institutional bias of our current long term care system. The mission of the Center is to promote the development of comprehensive state systems of services that respond to the preferences of long term care consumers and their caregivers, offer genuine alternatives to institutional care for older persons and other adults with disabilities, and facilitate connection between home and community based services and acute, primary, and institutional care.

The Center's current activities are focused on four areas:

1. Promoting consumer-directed options in aging services, in partnership with the National Council on the Aging and supported by a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Grant;
2. Supporting the systemic development of family caregiver support programs within the broader home and community based service system, funded as a "project of national significance" by the U.S. Administration on Aging;
3. Assisting with the identification and development of quality assurance and improvement initiatives in home and community based services, as part of a team that includes: the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Medstat Group, the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services, the National Association of Sate Medicaid Directors, and the Human Services Research Institute; and
4. Planning and convening the National Medicaid Home and Community Based Services Conference, in partnership with a State Host and a National Planning Committee whose members include representatives of aging, disability and Medicaid programs, advocates, and consumers. The next conference will be held September 30 - October 3, 2007 in Albuquerque, NM.
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Through these initiatives the Center collects and synthesizes data on the state-of-the-art and the various policy options; convenes panels of experts for the purpose of exploring specific issues in-depth; assists states with program implementation strategies; develops and publishes information/strategy briefs, guides, and reports; makes presentations at national and state conferences/symposia; and provides customized technical assistance tailored to the unique needs of states.

The Center also has developed extensive knowledge and expertise in Medicare, Medicaid, managed care, case management, consumer direction, family caregiver support, quality assurance and improvement, assisted living and other housing options, managed care, case management, and long term care quality assurance; organizes and presents symposia for state aging directors; conducts research and policy analysis; facilitates peer exchange among states; and provides consultation to individual states upon request.