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Janet Firshein or Joe
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FOR RELEASE WITH A.M. PAPERS ON
FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2004
NATIONAL REPORT
PRAISES ARKANSAS
FOR HELPING
KEEP RESIDENTS OUT OF NURSING HOMES
WASHINGTON, D.C. (January
30, 2004) – An assessment of health care
in the 50 states, released here today, finds that Arkansas is a pioneer in the
field of long-term care. The report touts Arkansas’ “Cash and Counseling” demonstration
program, which empowers frail elderly and disabled people by giving them the
cash to buy personal assistance and supplies or even make home remodeling
efforts that can help keep them out of expensive nursing homes. It appears in
the February 2004 issue of Governing magazine.
“Often, when you look at
state-to-state comparisons about things that relate to the wealth of a state,
Arkansas doesn’t do so well,” said Katherine Barrett, co-author of the special
issue of Governing. “The state has one of the lowest rates of insurance
coverage in the country and is near the top of the list in numbers of
uninsured. The state may not be able to outspend others, but at least it’s
trying to optimize the dollars it does spend.”
While most other states
pay agencies to arrange for long-term care services in the home, Arkansas saves
Medicaid dollars by placing the clients in charge of handling their own needs.
Studies have shown that people who sign up for Cash and Counseling have fewer
unmet needs and are happier with their care and their lives, according to the
report. It also lauds Arkansas’ use of home and community-based alternatives,
pointing out that its 12-year-old Elder Choices program has cut nursing home
residency by 60 percent.
Despite Arkansas’ budget
problems, the state has effectively targeted spending on priority areas where
it can make a difference. Governing’s report also points to the state’s
effective use of technology to keep down the cost of prescription drugs for
Medicaid beneficiaries. The authors say
the state is “at the forefront in using technology to profile physician
prescription patterns and detail claim by diagnosis.” As a result, Arkansas can
more easily identify physicians who are inappropriately prescribing drugs or
avoiding less expensive generic substitutes. The authors also praise Arkansas’
commitment--backed up by a targeted stream of revenues from its tobacco
settlement--to build an adequate public health workforce at a time when the
nation is suffering from a major shortage of public health workers.
Governing’s analysis of state-funded health care is part of the
Government Performance Project, a six-year-old effort, funded by the Pew
Charitable Trusts, to evaluate a wide range of state government management and
policy functions. This year’s special report focuses on six critical health
care problems facing states: long-term care, public health, mental health,
prescription drugs, access to care for the uninsured, and care for children.
The Government Performance
Project found and documented the inability of the 50 states’ healthcare system
to deliver improvements in medicine fairly and consistently to many of their
citizens. Health care in most states is not just inadequate, the study
concluded -- it’s deteriorating. “After
exhaustive analysis and hundreds of interviews,” says Peter Harkness, Governing’s
publisher and editor, “it became clear that there is a health care crisis
in America. But it is in no way a medical crisis. It is a fiscal crisis.”
Governing is a policy and management magazine aimed at high-level
state and local government officials. An online version of this report will be
available at http://www.governing.com/gpp/2004/intro.htm
as of January 29. Press releases for
each of the 50 states can be found at http://www.governing.com/gpp/2004/press.htm.
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