By Mike Shields
KHI News Service
TOPEKA, May 9 The Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services
has been awarded a $37 million federal grant to assist people moving from institutions to community settings.
The money will come over five years, SRS officials said Wednesday, and eventually will help more than 1,000 people move out of nursing homes and other institutional settings.
“It is estimated that we will serve 242 aging, 286 developmentally disabled, and 406 physically disabled (people) over the five year period,” said Abbie Hodgson of SRS.
The grant is from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
“The Money Follows the Person grant is a vehicle for the state of Kansas to serve people in their own homes and communities,” SRS Secretary Don Jordan said in a prepared statement. “This affords SRS the flexibility to develop and implement creative alternatives to placing individuals in hospitals, nursing facilities, or intermediate care facilities.”
According to SRS, with proper services many people could be in their own homes or communities where they would have greater independence and continued ties to family and friends than if they were in a nursing home or other institution. Advocates say that option is cheaper than nursing home or other institutional care.
SRS said those who will receive Money Follows the Person funding must:
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Use community based residential services that house less than three people instead of congregate or group living facilities
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Must be Medicaid eligible for at least 30 days prior to transfer and must have resided in a qualified institutional setting for at least six months.
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Continue to need and receive home and community based services after transition.
The aid can be used for utility deposits, basic furniture, linens and similar necessities.
“This sort of assistance I think will be very important to people coming into the community setting and to the providers who service them,” said Matt Fletcher, associate director of Interhab, an umbrella group for about 40 agencies that work with the developmentally disabled statewide. “But we also need to be mindful of the larger needs. Capacity issues are very critical now. The ability to attract and retain qualified staff has been a major challenge for providers. That is because of many, many years of underfunding.”
But Fletcher said the grant money would be appreciated because providers often have taken on the costs themselves of setting up people newly resettled after institutional stays.
He also said he thought the timing of the grant was right given discussion about possibly closing one of the state”s two hospitals for the developmentally disabled.
“I know the Legislature has identified they want to look at the possibility of closing one of those two institutions in the near future, so I think this grant comes at a good time,” he said.
Fletcher said SRS sent notices earlier this week to “stakeholders” that it would hold “feedback” meetings over the next few weeks as it moves forward with the grant program.
“These informational meetings that SRS wants to hold with community stakeholders will provide us a much better picture what their plan is,” he said. “I know our members will be at those meetings ready to provide feedback.”
-Mike Shields is a staff writer for KHI News Service, which specializes in coverage of health issues facing Kansans. He can be reached at
mshields@khi.org
or at 785-233-5443, ext. 123.