La Crosse to test pilot for long-term care program

0 Comments | La Crosse Tribune, Oct 07, 1998

La Crosse County will lead the way in implementing one-stop shopping for long-term care for the elderly and disabled.

The county was selected Tuesday as one of five in the state to pilot the care management organization portion of Gov. Tommy Thompson's redesign of the long-term health care program, Family Care. La Crosse applied for a $170,000 grant to implement the program, but received $207,000, $37,000 more than it requested.

"Most people think the only choice they have is to go into a nursing home," said Mary Faherty, care management organization project director. Faherty supervises elderly services for the county. "Hopefully, this program will offer them more choices in their care."

Long-term care includes such services as nursing-home care, in-home health care and help with household and personal needs such as grocery shopping, cooking and dressing.

Federal and state funding now funnels into a number of programs for the elderly and disabled. Participants are usually on their own in seeking programs that would benefit them.

Under Thompson's redesign, people seeking funding will be able to go to a single resource center to be assessed for the level of care they require. Once screened, they will be assigned a rate of pay, using those federal and state funds. An account will be created on the participant's behalf, and the care management organization will handle receiving and paying for services for the participant.

La Crosse was also a pilot for the first part of Family Care, the creation of an aging and disability resource center. The center, which serves as an information resource for professionals and families, opened April 1 in the county Health and Human Services building.

The possible benefits of a care management organization program are two-fold, Faherty said.

"People want to stay in their homes and we want a cost-effective program," she said. "This program could do both. It is cheaper for someone to remain in their home and receive care than be institutionalized."

By saving that money, professionals can care for more individuals. During a May forum on long-term care, Dean Ruppert, manager of the long-term support section for La Crosse County, said 300 to 400 people are on a waiting list for services.

The pilot will run until December 1999, at which time the county has the right to refuse to continue to administer the program. If the county did that, the state would seek a private organization to do it.