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Personal Care Program
for Elderly and Disabled
More Popular than Expected
The Associated Press
January 18, 2005
A new state program that provides home care services as an alternative to nursing homes for the elderly and disabled has proven far more popular than state officials expected, increasing costs.
When a court settlement required the Department of Health and Hospitals to provide personal care attendants as a new entitlement under Medicaid in January 2004, the agency was expecting about 2,300 applications.
But by Dec. 31, the agency had received nearly 7,200 requests for services.
More than half the applicants were deemed eligible, and 2,943 people were receiving services by the end of last month.
To meet the demand, the health department expanded its contract with Affiliated Computer Services, a Dallas firm that operates a call center and conducts in-home screening of applicants to determine whether their incomes and medical conditions qualify them for the program.
Medicaid Director Ben Bearden said the new contract is valued at $9.6 million, up from $6 million, and will provide 20 new local jobs because ACS is moving its call center from Tallahassee, Fla., to Baton Rouge.
The home care program is available to Medicaid-eligible people age 65 and older and to disabled people 21 or older who otherwise would qualify for nursing homes. Recipients can get as many as 56 hours per week of help with daily tasks such as cooking and grooming. Gross monthly income cannot exceed $567 and available resources cannot exceed $2,000.
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