Management for Ohio Home Care Waiver
Effective January 2014, the Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM) has partnered with CareSource to manage the Ohio Home Care Waiver in southeast Ohio. The waiver program provides cost-effective home and community-based services for individuals with disabilities and supports them so they may remain in a community setting.
The local Area Agencies on Aging in SE Ohio (AAA7, AAA8 and AAA9) are partnering with CareSource to help individuals on the waiver obtain home and community-based care. The local Area Agencies on Aging have many years of experience providing waiver case management, and work closely with many home and community based service providers in the community.
Individual case managers from the local Area Agency on Aging coordinate care services for individuals on the waiver. Providers should contact the respective Area Agency on Aging regarding questions about services for individuals on the waiver.
"We are excited about the new endeavor of case management for these Ohio waivers because care management is what Area Agencies on Aging are best known for," said AAA8 Director Rick Hindman. "This will be a new way to support the state's efforts to provide home and community-based services to our most vulnerable populations."
AAA8 Partners with Hocking Correctional Facility to Lead Adoption of Disease Management Programs Across State
The Hocking Correctional facility in Nelsonville is home to some of the state's most aged inmates. As such, the staff there realized a need for health and wellness resources to help individuals manage their chronic diseases.
In 2012, a partnership with The Area Agency on Aging 8 (AAA8) developed Hocking's chronic disease self-management program (CDSMP) for Diabetes Self Management.
"We started out looking for resources to help those with problems and issues with their health," said Sue Wheeler, Corrections Program Specialist at Hocking and a Master Trainer for the programs. "We have offered these programs on a voluntary basis to offenders and have found that they love it!"
Wheeler explained that the evidence-based programs help them self-manage their own disease or conditions and individuals feel like they are learning a lot. The programs are for those with conditions such as high blood pressure, asthma, arthritis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes, and others. The overall goal of the programs is to enable participants to build self confidence to take part in maintaining and managing their chronic conditions.
"It is not uncommon for the students to say they went to the prison library to look up more information and come back with that research and questions," added Wheeler. "This is what we want to see happening - them taking control and becoming problem solvers and learning how to manage conditions like diet and exercise within the confines of the facility."
The classes average about ten participants and have been very well received. Wheeler also noted that the skills inmates learn meet other important correctional training needs like self-management and problem solving or critical thinking skills.
In 2012, Wheeler said, "It would be our dream to see these programs offered in correctional facilities across the state of Ohio. We are certainly using our experiences here in Nelsonville as a Pilot program to encourage program expansion because it really works."
Flash forward to Dec. 2013 when a total of 18 facilities across Ohio have now adopted Healthy U!
"Through the leadership and foresight of the staff at the Nelsonville facility, and a partnership with The Ohio Dept. of Aging and the Department of Corrections, we have seen the implementation grow throughout the year," said AAA8 Planner Mindy Cayton. "We are excited to see even more facilities adopt the program in 2014!"
The Chronic Disease Self Management Program and the Diabetes Self Management Program were created at Stanford University and are proven scientific programs that produce favorable outcomes. The programs are 2.5 hours a week over a six-week period.