Iowa’s home care industry will reap the benefits of a $62 million grant funded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in an effort to help long term Medicaid beneficiaries over the next three years by expanding availability of home care, according to the Iowa Department of Human Services.
The grant was awarded to Iowa and five other states in accordance with a CMS initiative to help balance long term care received by Medicaid beneficiaries between in home care and facility services. To qualify for the grant, a state has to spend more than half of their Medicaid long term care on nursing homes and other facilities.
With the grant, Iowa intendeds to expand home care through three main actions: Establishing better resources for long term care patients, creating a standardized assessment that helps determine in home needs, and the development of a case management system that aids in creating long term care plans are the main goals of the Iowa Medicaid system according to Jennifer Vermeer, Iowa medicaid director.
Iowa expects to see a reduction in the number of emergency room visits as a result of the state’s expansion of in home care, according to the Iowa Department of Human Services. They project the reduction in emergency room visits to save the state between $7 million and $15 million from 2012 to 2015.
Written by Erin Hegarty
