Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #114569

Kathleen C. Thomas, MPH, PhD, Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 725 Airport Road, CB #7590, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7590, (919)966-3387, kathleen_thomas@unc.edu, Alan R. Ellis, MSW, Sheps Center for Health Services Research, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 725 Airport Road, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7590, Kathryn Moss, PhD, Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 725 Airport Rd., CB# 7590, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7590, and Joseph P. Morrissey, PhD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, 725 Airport Road, CB#7590, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7590.

Individuals who require Employment Personal Assistance Services (E-PAS) have a variety of disabling conditions, including blindness or seriously impaired vision, deafness or seriously impaired hearing, lower extremity mobility difficulties, upper extremity mobility difficulties, difficulties using hands, serious mental health problems, and serious intellectual problems Need for and use of E-PAS varies widely by type of disability, ranging from help with activities of daily living to help negotiating actual job tasks. There are virtually no published data that describe use of and expenditures for PAS by personal characteristics. This information is critical for policy makers and planners as they strive to comply with federal and state policies designed to provide services and supports to people with disabilities in the community and to remove remaining barriers to full integration that Americans with disabilities face. For example, the Ticket To Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999 has established an optional Medicaid plan that extends coverage to working adults with disabilities. Since buy-in eligibility is tied to workforce participation, the mix of disability status will differ from that of individuals on the wider Medicaid rolls. The proposed presentation will discuss Medicaid data on over 27,000 claims in North Carolina that cover 2002 and 2003 expenditures for individuals with different types of disabilities. Frequency and expenditures for PAS will be described by disability, age, gender, and Medicaid eligibility status. Findings will inform state planners and policymakers striving to establish or expand E-PAS services particularly within the context of state Medicaid Buy-In programs.

Learning Objectives:

• Define what constitutes PAS and E-PAS services.
• Describe use and expenditures for PAS and how they vary by personal characteristics, particularly disability.
• Analyze the implications of PAS extension options for planners and policymakers.

Keywords: Disability Policy, Personal Assistance

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.