HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

2844

TWENTY-SIXTH LEGISLATURE, 2012

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

RELATING TO AGING AND DISABILITY RESOURCE CENTERs.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 


     SECTION 1.  (a)  The aging and disability resource center initiative is a collaborative effort led by the United States Department of Health and Human Services Administration on Aging and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and involves the partnership of the federal Office on Disability, the Administration for Developmental Disabilities, as well as the United States Department of Education and the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.  This initiative seeks to streamline access to long-term services and support for older adults, persons with disabilities, family caregivers, and providers.

     Aging and disability resource centers serve as a single point of entry into the long-term support and service system for older adults, people with disabilities, caregivers, and families.  Sometimes referred to as "one stop shops" or "no wrong door" systems, aging and disability resource centers help individuals and their families to identify their long-term support and service needs, understand their long-term support options including publicly funded programs that are available to them, and develop and activate a long-term support and service plan.  Aging and disability resource centers raise the awareness about the full range of available options; provide objective information, advice, counseling, and assistance; empower people to make informed decisions about their long-term support and service needs; and help people access public and private programs.

     Aging and disability resource centers are designed to address the frustrations that many consumers and their families experience when they need information and access to available support and services.  In many communities, long-term support and services are administered by multiple agencies and have complex, fragmented, and often duplicative intake, assessment, and eligibility functions.  Determining how to obtain services can be difficult for consumers and their families, and a single, coordinated system of information and access for all persons seeking long-term support minimizes confusion, enhances individual choice, and supports informed decision-making.  Aging and disability resource centers also improve the ability of the State and counties to manage resources and monitor program quality through centralized data collection and evaluation.

     (b)  The legislature finds that aging and disability resource centers are an integral component of health care and long-term care reform and essential in the development of effectively managed person-centered service systems.  These person-centered systems are envisioned to:

     (1)  Optimize choice and independence;

     (2)  Be served by an adequate workforce;

     (3)  Be transparent;

     (4)  Encourage personal responsibility;

     (5)  Provide coordinated high quality care;

     (6)  Be financially sustainable; and

     (7)  Utilize health information technology.

The aging and disability resource center initiative focuses on improving access to long-term support and services so that an individual may receive the right services at the right time and in the right place.

     (c)  The legislature finds that aging and disability resource centers use two broad strategies to divert individuals from unnecessary long-term institutional care and ensure that short-term institutional stays do not become permanent by:

     (1)  Intervening with options counseling in critical pathways; and

     (2)  Expediting eligibility determination processes for home and community-based services.

For example, many aging and disability resource centers have collaborated to support individuals who are transitioning across long-term support and service settings such as hospitals and nursing homes.  This collaboration has included aging and disability resource centers working to raise visibility about home- and community-based service options within their communities, providing options counseling to potential participants and their families, conducting assessments, care plan development, waiver enrollment, and service initiation and follow-up.  The legislature also finds that aging and disability resource centers play a critical role in supporting this long-term care reform by improving the ability of the State and counties to effectively manage the system, monitoring program quality, and measuring responsiveness of state and county systems of care.

     (d)  The purpose of this Act is to create a single point of entry into Hawaii's long-term support and service system by:

     (1)  Establishing the aging and disability resource center program and placing it under the authority of the executive office on aging; and

     (2)  Appropriating moneys for the establishment of aging and disability resource centers statewide.

     SECTION 2.  Chapter 349, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

     "§349-    Aging and disability resource centers; established.  (a)  There is established the aging and disability resource center program within the executive office on aging to streamline access to long-term support and services by integrating the full range of long-term support and services into a single coordinated system.

     (b)  Aging and disability resource centers shall be located in each county in areas that are easily accessed by all county residents.  Aging and disability resource centers shall make long-term care information available to persons regardless of age, income, or disability.  Information shall be provided in a patient-specific manner and shall include comprehensive information on long-term support options, including but not limited to:

     (1)  Medicaid, medicare, federal Older Americans Act programs, United States Department of Veterans Affairs programs, and other federal, state, and county revenue-funded programs and services;

     (2)  Privately administered programs and services;

     (3)  Application processes for publicly funded programs;

     (4)  Services and support for people with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias;

     (5)  Transportation services;

     (6)  Housing options;

     (7)  Elder rights protection;

     (8)  Hospital and nursing home discharge planning and care transition;

     (9)  Health, prevention, and wellness programs;

    (10)  Support for grandparents and other elder persons who are raising children; and

    (11)  Informal and family caregiver support services.

     (c)  Aging and disability resource centers shall direct their services to:

     (1)  Persons who are sixty years of age and older;

     (2)  Persons of any age with physical disabilities, serious mental illness, dementia, and developmental or intellectual disabilities;

     (3)  Informal and family caregivers providing assistance to persons needing long-term support and services;

     (4)  Professionals seeking assistance on behalf of their clients or patients; and

     (5)  Individuals planning for their future long-term support needs.

     (d)  The applicable area agencies on aging shall implement the aging and disability resource center program within their geographic service area."

     SECTION 3.  There is appropriated out the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $1,400,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2012-2013 for the development of the aging and disability resource center program and the establishment of aging and disability resource centers, statewide.

     The sum appropriated shall be expended by the executive office on aging for the purposes of this Act.

     SECTION 4.  The allocation of moneys made to the counties under section 3 shall constitute the State's share of funding required under article XIII, section 5 of the state constitution.

     SECTION 5.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 6.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2012.

 

INTRODUCED BY:

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Report Title:

Aging and Disability Resource Centers

 

Description:

Establishes the aging and disability resource center program within the executive office on aging.  Appropriates funds.

 

 

 

The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.