Aging and Adult Services

Louisiana Commissioner of Insurance Jim Donelon and Department of Health and Hospitals Secretary Alan Levine today unveiled the Louisiana Long-term Care Partnership Program, which will provide Louisianians with coverage for their long-term health care needs. The program will protect residents from being forced to exhaust their assets to become Medicaid eligible if they are faced with requiring long-term care, such as nursing home care or care due to a condition such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Louisiana’s efforts to improve the quality of care for aging and elderly citizens took another step forward on August 1, 2008 with the opening of a second location offering PACE services. PACE, or Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly, offers seniors a variety of services to address medical, social and personal care needs. The Baton Rouge program is made possible by a three-way partnership between the Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH), Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Louisiana’s effort to improve the quality of care for aging and elderly citizens took another step forward with the approval by the federal government of a plan to encourage closure of older, low-occupancy homes. This follows two other reforms for long-term care undertaken by the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.

The time spent waiting to receive home and community-based services through the Elderly and Disabled Adult Waiver will soon be over for 1,500 seniors and adults with disabilities. That’s because the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has recently given its approval to the state’s request to add an additional 1,500 Elderly and Disabled Adult Waiver slots, allowing for a total of 4,403 persons to now receive these services.

Officials with the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals recently learned the state will receive up to $30.9 million to increase home and community-based services for people with disabilities or who have long-term care needs. The Money Follows the Person grant is from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco today announced the appointment of Hugh Eley as Assistant Secretary of the La. Department of Health and Hospitals Office of Aging and Adult Services.

In preparation for the upcoming statewide launch, LAHousingSearch.org is expanding each day with the addition of detailed listings of available rental properties. The site already lists detailed information on over 400 available rental units and is currently being utilized by 150 property providers to advertise their vacancies.

The John J. Hainkel Jr. Home and Rehabilitation Center will open its Adult Day Health Care Center on Nov. 15. The center, which is located at 612 Henry Clay Ave. in Uptown New Orleans, will host a Grand Opening health fair to celebrate the opening.

The Department of Health and Hospitals must implement cuts in its Medicaid program beginning Jan. 1 because federal aid legislation did not pass in time for the year's end.