State Scorecard on Long-Term Services and Supports Released - How Does Your State Measure Up?

The fourth edition in a series of reports, “Advancing Action: A State Scorecard on Long-Term Services and Support for Older Adults, People with Physical Disabilities and Family Caregivers” was released last month providing a compilation of state data and analysis that evaluates state’s performance on providing long term services and supports. The report evaluates affordability and access, choice of setting and provider, quality of life and care, support for family caregivers and effective transitions.  

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The report also noted that home care costs continue to be much more cost effective than nursing home care for individuals and families. On average, the annual per person cost is about $35,000 a year (for 30 hours of weekly care at $23 per hour), compared with an average cost of $102,000 for nursing home care. However, home care still exceeds what many older households can afford to pay. Nationally, home care costs would consume more than three-quarters (80 percent) of the entire income of the typical older middle-income family. 

States of Washington and Minnesota have been ranked either 1 or 2 in every edition of the Scorecard. Also featured in the report was nurse delegation, which allows registered nurses to delegate to home care aides certain tasks including medication and tube feeding, which is reported on the rise going from 16 states permitting nurse delegation to 18.