Aging and Disability Resource Centers and Systems Transformation Grants: Working together for broader systems change

The 1981 Medicaid 1915(c) HCBS Waiver program began to address the imbalance between institutional and community supports by promoting a myriad of diverse community-based programs. However, these programs were often disjointed and ultimately not sustainable. The Systems Transformation Grants (STG) awarded to 18 states by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) in Fiscal Years (FY) 2005-6 were intended to address this problem by building upon previous grants to create a comprehensive system reform. The purpose of this presentation is to demonstrate how STGs have been utilized to enhance the scope and sustainability of Aging and Disability Resource Centers (ADRC) in the 15 states that have been awarded both STG and ADRC opportunities. ADRCs were awarded to 43 states between FY 2003-5 by the Administration on Aging and CMS to facilitate consumer access to long-term care (LTC) supports and promote access to community living. Similarly, STGs were designed to rebalance LTC options from institutional settings to community-based alternatives. Goal 1, selected by 12 of the STG grantees is particularly aligned with the mission of the ADRC, to improve access to long-term support services. Abt Associates, funded by CMS to serve as the national STG evaluator, extracted qualitative and quantitative data from multiple sources (e.g., in-person and telephonic interviews, strategic plans, semi-annual and annual reports) to evaluate collaboration efforts and to assess the impact of STGs on the ADRCs. Our findings underscore the value of cross-grant collaboration as a means to promote and/or enhance consumer access to LTC support and services.