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On the afternoon of June 30th, area agencies on aging around the state received from the
State the new service rates for that would take effect July 1st, just a few hours later.
Significant changes in the rates for home care services were made.
The impact was approximately $6.2 million less for services. Area agencies on aging were forced
to reduce their workforce. (This is a nice way to say, employees who have been serving Indiana's
older and disabled citizens have been fired.)
Adjustments to the new rates are being made according to Division of Aging Director Steve
Smith. These adjustments took effect October 1st and are retroactive to July 1, 2006. But the
damage has already been done.
It has also been reported that a number of home care providers have informed area agencies on
aging that they will no longer participate in the CHOICE and/or Medicaid Waiver home care
programs. Reductions in providers jeopardizes the delivery of home care, a building block for
our long term care system transformation. Individuals want, and deserve, to stay in their own
homes for as long as possible.
"Area agencies on aging play a vital role in our communities," emphasized Niemier. "Making
decisions that weaken our area agencies on aging at a time when we are supposed to be implementing
SEA 493, makes absolutely no sense."
This is not the only dilemma area agencies on aging have been facing. Senior employment
services are no longer being provided through the area agencies on aging. An out-of-state
company, National ABLE, has been awarded the contract. Rather than those seniors seeking
employment training and placement being able to sign up in their own communities, all
administration of the program will be done at 1-2 locations for the entire state.
Threats of privatizing case management and nutrition services have further added to the
strain in local communities. This summer, the Division of Aging "invited" the sixteen area
agencies on aging to submit a proposal outlining how, together, they would provide 20% more
meals the coming year with the exact same amount of funding. If they failed, the State
indicated they would seek outside bids (i.e., private company (ies)).
This proposal, too, has been withdrawn at least for the time being.
United Senior Action and other members of the Indiana Home Care Task Force feel strongly that our
state's network of area agencies on aging should be strengthened not attacked. Area agencies
on aging are independently incorporated non-profits with locally-elected boards and strategic
plans created by citizens in their community not by officials in the Indiana Government Center.
Accountability is more readily achieved when the agencies serving seniors and those individuals
with disabilities can access services through a single point of entry and when that single
point of entry is beholden to the very community it serves.
Commission on Aging and CHOICE Board Merger Proposed
Indicating it will be easier for the staff of the Indiana Division on Aging, which has reduced
its workforce from 42 to 31 employees, Director Steve Smith is advocating that the Indiana
Commission on Aging and the CHOICE Board merge.
United Senior Action, AARP Indiana and the Indiana Alliance for Retired Americans are
strongly opposed to the idea.
"The legislature established the Commission [on Aging] with very clear responsibilities and
membership," said Michelle Niemier, USA Executive Director. "The Commission is made up of
seniors representing every area of the state so that seniors' voices are heard and the
Commission's scope goes far beyond long term care."
At a recent meeting of the CHOICE Board, Commission on Aging Chair Norman Stallons told the
CHOICE Board that the Commission hoped to examine important issues such as transportation, housing
and more. United Senior Action could not agree more. The Commission could play a leading,
visionary role for seniors in this state. This role is broader and distinctly different that
the CHOICE Board's.
Just a few of the responsibilities that the CHOICE Board is charged with by statute are:
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Establishing long term care goals of the state for the provision of a continuum of care.
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Reviewing state policies on community and home care services.
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Making recommendations concerning community and home care services to the legislature, other
boards, and state agencies.
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Evaluating programs and expenditures.
CHOICE is not only a program that serves seniors, it serves younger consumers including
children. The CHOICE Board has some consumer representation (after USA and others fought
to get representation), but the majority of members are not consumers.
"We need both the Commission and the CHOICE Board. Without legislation, these two entities
can not be merged even if that is what the Division on Aging wishes," added Niemier.
State Fair, Governor's Conference on Aging, and Senior Representation
United Senior Action members were surprised to learn this year that after more than two
decades of having a booth at the Indiana State Fair, there would no longer be a Senior Building.
As what has been described as a poor substitute, the State designated a single day at the Fair
for just a couple of hours to highlight the gifts ours give to their communities.
Further, the State has announced there will no longer be a Governor's Conference on Aging.
In years past, the Conference provided seniors across the state the opportunity to grapple
with difficult issues facing older Hoosiers and to develop policy recommendations. In more
recent years, the event strayed from this unique and important purpose, leaving many seniors
to not attend.
"It's a darn shame," said Gloria Ferguson, longtime USA volunteer. "We feel shoved aside,
like our views, needs and experience are no longer needed."
United Senior Action will continue working to ensure the hard work of our members
over the past 27 years is not undone.
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