Money Follows the Person: A Long-Term Impact for Program Participants

Money Follows the Person (MFP) is a Medicaid demonstration program established in 2008 that provides states with the opportunity to rebalance long-term care services and supports by transitioning individuals from institutional to community settings. The study explores the long-term effect of participation by analyzing participants’ Quality of Life (QoL) survey scores pre- and post-transition. A factor analysis was conducted to produce a validated, 10-item QoL scale (range: 1-11) with three components: safety, respect (α= 0.73), and community integration (α = 0.61). A repeated measures ANOVA was used to assess the correlation of QoL at three time points: pre-transition, one year post-transition, and two years post-transition. The study population included 284 MFP participants in Georgia who completed each of the surveys between January 2009 and December 2014. Results demonstrate there is a significant association between transition time and increased QoL mean scores (F (1.701, 14.318) = 12.617, p < 0.0005). Post hoc tests reveal both year-one and year-two average QoL scores significantly increase, year-one to 8.19 ± 0.22 (p = 0.003) and year-two to 8.40 ± 0.18 (p < 0.0005), from the pre-transition mean of 7.23 ± 0.21. There is no significant association between year-one to year-two means. The improvement in QoL scores post-transition reinforces the efforts of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in eliminating barriers and providing supports that assure individuals with the setting of their choice when long term services and supports are needed.