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The Generations Project Receives $90,000 Grant from Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust

Indianapolis – The Generations Project received a grant of $90,000 from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust. The Funds will be used to support the second year of a collaborative effort designed to improve Indiana ’s system of long term care services for elderly and disabled citizens in Indiana.

“Assistance from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust has and continues to support a critical effort to rebalance Indiana’s system of long term health care,” stated Duane Etienne, President of The Generations Project’s Advisory Board. “The fruits of this support will be fully realized when those in need of home and community based long term care no longer have to wait for those services,” Etienne concluded.

The Generations Project was among 21 Indiana nonprofit organizations receiving grant checks and commitments totaling $1,606,000 from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust at the Trust’s check presentation event held on November 15, 2004, at Second Helpings, Inc. This is the third of three funding rounds for the Trust in 2004.

“Our funding helps people in need, protects animals and nature, and enriches community life in Indiana and Arizona, the states Mrs. Pulliam called home,” explained Harriet Ivey, president and CEO of the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust. “Five grantees are first-time recipients of the Trust’s giving. Grants range from $15,000 to $200,000,” Ivey added.

“As the trust completes its seventh year of funding, we are most pleased with the long-term impact of our grant dollars and the relationships and programs established with our family of grantees,” said Trustee Carol Peden Schatt. “Nina would have been so proud of the work her dollars are supporting today.”

“The Trust will be a part of this community for many years to come – during the next 43 years of the Trust’s 50-year life and, more importantly, through the legacy of your work,” Trustee Chairman Frank E. Russell stated.

Trustee Nancy Russell updated the audience about the Nina Mason Pulliam Legacy Scholars program, which opens doors of higher education for men and women who are often overlooked for traditional college scholarships.

“We are very pleased that many of our Nina Scholars are being referred from nonprofit organizations the Trust supports,” Russell said. Beginning in 2001, each year the Trust has sponsored five new students at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis and 12 new students at Ivy Tech State College – Central Indiana.

Since the Trust began making grants in 1989, it has committed $47,532,985 to 296 nonprofit organizations in Indiana.

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Monday Summit to Address Indiana’s Long Term Care & Fiscal Crisis

INDIANAPOLIS - The Moving Forward Summit on Long Term Care Reform will take place Monday, November 15, at 10:00 a.m. The event will be held downtown Indianapolis, 31 West Ohio Street, at the Radisson City Centre.

The Summit is being sponsored by The Generations Project, a collaborative of eleven leading civic organizations, to address the growing human and fiscal crisis resulting from Indiana’s system of long term care. Advocates and health care administrators from Indiana and other states will be on hand Monday to make the case that in order to stem this crisis, Indiana must rebalance its spending on publicly funded long term health care.

By 2025, Indiana’s 65 and older population is expected to increase to over 1.2 million, making it the second largest age category in the state. Within this population, it is estimated that at least 60% of people 75 and older will require some form of long term care during the remainder of their life.

“With a $1.6 billion dollar budget for long term care in 2004, Indiana cannot afford to wait to transition its system of long term care,” said John Cardwell, Director of The Generations Project. “A system of care that utilizes more home and community based care options will save the State money and provide appropriate care for Indiana’s senior citizens and persons with disabilities,” Cardwell concluded.

Monday’s Summit will focus on how Indiana can and must reform its system. The day’s events will include panel discussions covering how long term care issues impact Indiana business and overall quality of life; how other states have achieved long term care rebalancing; and what Indiana must do to implement Senate Enrolled Act 493 – the law passed unanimously by the 2003 Indiana General Assembly.

An estimated 200 individuals – including citizens, public officials, legislators, advocates, and health care professionals are expected at The Moving Forward Summit to address this critical issue. Among many other things, The Generations Project will illustrate that - for the people and the economic well-being of Indiana - now is the time to move forward with long term care reform.

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Summit to focus on moving forward with reforming long term care system in Indiana

INDIANAPOLIS – Advocates, legislators and citizens will gather here, Nov. 15, for The Moving Forward Summit on Long Term Care Reform. The summit is sponsored by The Generations Project.

The 10 a.m. event will be held at the Radisson City Centre, 31 West Ohio Street, in downtown Indianapolis.

According to the 2004 Chart Book released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Indiana ranks 47th in spending on home and community based care as a percentage of its total long term care budget. Indiana has long stagnated near the bottom of lists ranking state expenditures on home and community based care in spite of an overwhelming public demand for such services and the significant cost savings that could be achieved by satisfying that public demand.

Current and former long term care administrators from states that have balanced their long term care systems will be on hand to articulate how Indiana can and must move forward. The implementation of Senate Enrolled Act 493, passed by the 2003 Indiana General Assembly, will be a significant topic of conversation as the vehicle for making these changes.

In addition, health care professionals and state administrators will be in attendance to discuss this critically important issue.

An estimated 200 individuals – including citizens, public officials, legislators, advocates, and health care professionals are expected at The Moving Forward Summit to address this critical issue. Among many other things, The Generations Project will illustrate that - for the people and the economic well-being of Indiana - now is the time to move forward with long term care reform.

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Indiana Minority Health Coalition Joins The Generations Project
“Business as usual isn’t working for persons in need of home health care in Indiana.”

Indianapolis – The Indiana Minority Health Coalition (IMHC) has recently partnered with The Generations Project in an effort to raise public awareness about the need to rebalance Indiana’s publicly funded system of long term health care. IMHC is a non-profit organization organized exclusively for charitable, educational, and scientific purposes with a primary focus of improving the health of Indiana’s ethnic/racial minority population.

“Access to health care services remains a significant problem for minorities in Indiana,“ said Stephanie DeKemper, CEO and President of IMHC. “Those in need of long term care in this state are all too often ushered into nursing homes when more appropriate and more cost effective home and community based options could be utilized. We know that racial and ethnic minorities experience excess mortality, morbidity, and disability from preventable conditions; and for those individuals in need of home and community based care in Indiana, business as usual simply isn’t working,” DeKemper concluded.

With an estimated 35,000 individuals on official waiting lists for publicly funded home and community based care through Indiana’s CHOICE program and Medicaid Waivers, accessing appropriate long term care options remains a significant obstacle for all Hoosiers.

“The Generations Project exists to bring Hoosiers together to address the imbalance in Indiana’s long term care system,” said John Cardwell, Director of The Generations Project. “The addition of the Indiana Minority Health Coalition to the many organizations calling for fundamental change in the way Indiana administers long term health care is reflective of the growing need for long term care services by an aging and diverse population in Indiana. We are thrilled to have them on board,” concluded Cardwell.

In the spring of 2003, Governor Frank O’Bannon signed Senate Enrolled Act 493 into law as a way to re-balance Indiana’s long term care system. To date, Indiana’s Family and Social Services Administration has made little progress in implementing the sweeping provisions of SEA 493. Through statewide outreach and public education, The Generations Project is working to call attention to the significant crisis we face in long term care and the extensive tools we have available through SEA 493 to solve this crisis.

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Home Health Care Reforms to Receive Legislative Scrutiny
New law will require state agency to report what it is doing to implement 2003’s SEA 493

Indianapolis - Today, Indiana’s leading advocates for long-term care reform praised legislation passed by the 2004 General Assembly to increase its scrutiny of the home health care reforms that were made state law one year ago. Senate Enrolled Act 449, authored by State Senator Greg Server (R-Evansville) and sponsored in the House by State Representative Charlie Brown (D-Gary), empowers the Health Finance Committee to review and monitor the implementation of the Home Health and Long Term Care Services Reform Act of 2003. The new law, passed unanimously by the General Assembly, requires the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration to be prepared to report on implementation activities to the commission by May 1, 2004.

Last year’s reform act -- also known as Senate Enrolled Act 493 -- was designed to make home health, assisted living, adult foster care, personal care services, and adult day care readily available to qualified persons through Indiana’s Medicaid program. These alternatives will allow them to leave nursing homes and/or avoid going into them in the first place. The law also raised the income eligibility of persons who qualify for home and community based care through Medicaid to match the income eligibility for nursing home care. Such laws in other states have significantly reduced public spending on Medicaid by reducing the use of more expensive nursing home care.

The 2003 General Assembly designed SEA 493 to be self-funding by using the tax dollars that would otherwise pay for nursing homes to purchase home and community based alternatives. Under SEA 493, a person eligible for Medicaid-funded nursing home services can choose to use a portion of those funds to purchase less expensive home care, assisted living or other community based services.

States like Washington, Oregon, Wisconsin, Vermont, Colorado, Utah, Kansas and others all save money by investing in less expensive, more preferred home and community based services according to John Cardwell, Director of The Generations Project. Cardwell drafted the language of SEA 493 for The Generations Project and the Indiana Home Care Task Force, two consumer education and advocacy networks that support long-term care reform.*

Cardwell stated: “SEA 493 represents an enormous opportunity that FSSA has failed to take advantage of. So far that agency has made only token efforts to implement the 2003 reforms. In fact, they have missed most of the legal deadlines established by the act and are in de facto violation of state law. With the passage of SEA 449, we hope the General Assembly now has the leverage needed to finally spur FSSA into a full and proper implementation of the 2003 statute.”

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Advocates and Experts Will Discuss Issues Associated with SEA 493 and the Re-Balancing of Indiana’s Long Term Health Care System

Education Seminar for Editors, News Directors, and Reporters set for December 17th

When Senate Enrolled Act 493 was signed into law on May 8, 2003 by the late Governor Frank O’Bannon, advocates and Hoosiers in need of expanded home and community based services understood that although a solid foundation had been laid to build a balanced long term health care system for Indiana, much work would need to be done to realize the sweeping provisions contained within this new law.

Seven months have passed since SEA 493 was enacted.
Advocates and leading experts in the field of long term health care will convene Wednesday, December 17th, 2003 from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. at The Generations Project office (One North Capitol Avenue, Suite 1275, Indianapolis). The session has been planned to brief members of the print and electronic media about topics relative to long term health care in Indiana.

There is no charge for this event. Breakfast will be made available to those in attendance beginning at 7:30 a.m. Topics to be covered include:

What is SEA 493 and how do provisions contained within this landmark legislation work to re-balance Indiana’s system of long term health care?

Seven months after the signing of SEA 493 into state law, what progress has been made in implementing the mandates of this new law?

What are the consequences to those in need of care, caregivers, business, and the Indiana state budget of maintaining the status quo relative to long term health care given an aging population and expanding Medicaid budget?

How do advocates address the relative inaction of the state administration relative to the implementation of SEA 493 and arguments by the state that a full and timely implementation is fiscally unrealistic?

What steps will advocacy organizations take in the future to ensure a full and timely implementation of SEA 493?

In answering the above questions, presenters will discuss with members of the media administrative and fiscal issues, communications strategies, long term care as a political issue, avenues of legal recourse, and new legislation for the 2004 Indiana General Assembly.

Joint Statement of the Indiana Home Care Task Force to Governor Frank O'Bannon on the Implementation of SEA 493 and Funding for the CHOICE Program

Delivered on August 13, 2003 to the Office of the Governor

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Governor, hope is essential to human existence, or as the Rev. Jesse Jackson has so forcefully said, "we must keep hope alive." With hope, people are willing to endure all matter of want and need. Hope is the reason tens of thousands of Hoosiers have struggled for years in pain and poverty, at risk of institutionalization and death, awaiting the chance to get home and community based services through the CHOICE program or through a Medicaid waiver.

Yes, the hope of home care has kept these people alive but it is also a fragile thread that can too easily be broken. You have long recognized that fact. In 1987, your leadership was essential in the passage of the now nationally heralded CHOICE program. In the years that followed you stepped forward time after time to defend, advocate and advance the cause of long term care options for Hoosiers and on May 8th you signed SEA 493 into law.

Time and time again you have stepped forward to keep the thread of hope for home care unbroken. The people ofIndiananeed you to step forward once again.

Governor, the passage of Senate Enrolled Act 493 led us to believe the hope of good citizens was about to be rewarded. But for their hope to grow from a thread to a life saving rope, you must act decisively and quickly to fully implement 493, to restore full CHOICE funding, and to fully utilize Medicaid waivers.

Regarding SEA 493, the new law establishes the mechanisms for the delivery of long term care services to persons and families of limited means who are proven to be in need of that care. The law requires the establishment of a comprehensive array of necessary services that can enable each individual in service to get the care that is appropriate and cost effective for that person. 493 also the means for funding the expansion of home and community based services. All these things and more are done by the new law within the parameters of existing appropriations.

For persons with disabilities, the at-risk elderly, and stressed family care givers, 493 can truly be a life saving rope. For taxpayers frustrated with the growing cost of public services, for employers and workers seeking relief from the draining burden of long term care, and for lawmakers seeking a solution to the human misery and financial burden associated with doing business as usual, SEA 493 represents a real and positive solution if fully implemented. For people of all walks of life 493 is the codification of hope, fair play, good economics, and Hoosier common sense.

SEA 493 has been designed to transform Indiana's system of long term care in a comprehensive and integrated manner. Consequently, the new law cannot fulfill the hopes of Hoosiers if it is implemented in bits and pieces or if existing programs, such as CHOICE and the Medicaid aged and disabled waiver, are not properly funded and administered.

Unfortunately, the latter is happening at the present time. Well intended but incorrect actions to address Indiana's budget crisis are dismantling critical components of our long term care system. On July 1, 2003 the state reverted a reported four million dollars intended for CHOICE at a time when a record 13,000 Hoosiers are on waiting lists for services funded through that program. At the same time the state has "frozen" the availability of existing Medicaid waiver slots that came open during state fiscal year 2003 even though there are people on waiting lists for Medicaid waiver services. These two actions will drive already impoverished people into nursing homes and increase our Medicaid budget. Regarding 493, state administrators are arbitrarily deciding what parts of the law they will and will not implement. Such actions invite the strong possibility of a negative backlash from the public, the legislature, and the courts.

As you are aware, leaders of the organizations that compose the Indiana Home Care Task Force have been meeting with officials from your office, the State Budget Agency, and the Family and Social Services Administration. Those discussions have been cordial, relevant to the issues at hand, and they need to continue. However, those discussions have also been inconclusive and the July 1st enactment date for 493 has long since past. Disturbingly, during these discussions state officials conceded the reversion of CHOICE dollars and the freezing of Medicaid slots only after being pressed to do so.

Governor O'Bannon, the Indiana Home Care Task Force, on behalf of its member organizations across the state and the millions of Hoosiers we represent, urge you to act now to fully implement Senate Enrolled Act 493, to fully restore CHOICE funding, and to lift the freeze on Medicaid waiver slots. We are willing to meet with you at your convenience, and we are willing to continue to work with your executive staff and FSSA administrators. But as the days rapidly pass since the July 1, 2003 enactment date of SEA 493 more legal deadlines will be missed by your administration and even more Hoosiers put at risk of needless institutional placement and death.

Governor, with the passage of SEA 493 the General Assembly recreated the magical moment of 1987 when CHOICE was enacted into law. For years the CHOICE program fulfilled the hope and the promise of the original law, however, the benefits of that program have only been available to those lucky few who have not been endlessly held on waiting lists. With the passage of 493 we can bring the miracle of CHOICE to all Hoosiers needing and using publicly funded home and community based services. Through 493 the hope and thread of home care can truly grow into a life saving rope for all Hoosiers who need that care. Please act to give this hope the life your fellow Hoosiers deserve.

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Tools available, action lacking for those waiting on home and community based long term health care.

Leaders of organizations representing consumers, senior citizens, and people with disabilities will be in Fort Wayne, Wednesday, August 13th, for a 1:30 p.m. news conference to draw attention to the enormous potential for improvement in Indiana's long term health care system. Cliff Willis, communications director for AARP Indiana and Paul Severance, executive director of United Senior Action of Indiana will focus on the need for Indiana to move quickly to re-balance its system of long term health care. Wednesday's news conference will be held at the offices of Aging and In-Home Services of Northeast Indiana, Inc., 2927 Lake Avenue, Fort Wayne.

Over 27,000 Hoosiers are currently on official waiting lists for home and community based services. An estimated 13,000 of those are waiting for services under the Indiana CHOICE program. Advocates stress that with the passage of Senate Enrolled Act 493, it is now time for the state to implement the new law and fully utilize its existing CHOICE and Medicaid waiver program.

SEA 493 was passed unanimously by the 2003 Indiana General Assembly and mandates the state to begin re-balancing its long term care system. Indiana's CHOICE program, which provides home and community based care to Hoosiers, has served citizens since 1987. Mr. Willis and Mr. Severance will discuss the options now available to Hoosiers in need of long term care and the actions that Indiana must take to provide that care.

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UAW retirees to focus on addressing Indiana's long term care crisis

Kokomo - Retired UAW members will gather at 6:00 p.m., Jan. 8 at UAW Local 685 to conduct chapter business and learn about what can be done to address Indiana's growing long-term health care crisis.

"Young or old, anybody could be put in a position where they require long term health care," said Larry Scott, Local 685 retiree chairman. "Indiana has thousands of people on waiting lists to receive that care in their homes and in their community. Why can't these people get the care that they need? What can be done to change this? We'll have Will Phillips from The Generations Project here on Thursday to talk about the things that Indiana can be doing to solve its long term care crisis," Scott added.

Something must be done, according to Will Phillips, Program Associate for The Generations Project, Indianapolis. "An outdated formula for providing long term care to Hoosiers, coupled with an aging population, has left Indiana facing serious problems in caring for its citizens," Phillips said. Indiana's approach--a business as usual approach to long term care--will only continue to provide the usual results for consumers and taxpayers; a system of care that is the most expensive and the least desirable."

Phillips' visit will be the first of many visits to communities across the state on behalf of The Generations Project, an Indianapolis based coalition of advocacy groups. "Made up of organizations including AARP, the Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana, and the Indiana State Council of Senior Citizens, The Generation Project hopes to alert Hoosiers to the fact that home and community-based care is not just the preferred care-but also the cheapest care for taxpayers. Most importantly, we hope that folks around the state will demand change," said Phillips.

For more information regarding The Generations Project and long-term care issues, contact Will Phillips by email at wphillips@generationsproject.org or by phone at 317-423-7108. Kokomo residents can also contact the UAW retirees at 765-459-3133 or Elmer Blankenship, president of the Indiana State Council of Senior Citizens in Indianapolis at 317-547-0614.

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