Millions of low- and fixed-income Americans depend on Medicaid for health care. Many are fortunate enough to receive that care in their homes or at nearby facilities. Unfortunately, some have no choice but to receive treatment in nursing homes and in other institutional settings that may be nowhere near their homes, friends and family. Such situations are widely recognized to be less conducive to a patient’s overall well-being.<\/p>\n
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the federal agency that oversees those programs, recently announced new rules to strengthen the Community Living Initiative \u2014 a program launched in 2009 to develop strategies to increase Medicaid recipients’ opportunities for care in home- and community-based settings (HCBS).<\/p>\n
The new rules set definitions for HCBS and specify that Medicaid will support HCBS programs that offer an alternative to care in institutional settings and that take into account a patient\u2019s quality of life. States will be granted (more…)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Millions of low- and fixed-income Americans depend on Medicaid for health care. Many are fortunate enough to receive that care in their homes or at nearby facilities. Unfortunately, some have no choice but to receive treatment in nursing homes and…<\/span><\/p>\n