Center in the News List
Two Medi-Cal long-term care programs designed to keep seniors and disabled adults out of nursing homes are serving only a fraction of the eligible population, a UCLA Center for Health Policy Research study finds.
"In general, the cost of keeping someone at home, with a program like IHSS, is far less than if they were to end up in institutional care," said Kathryn G. Kietzman, director of the Health Equity Program at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.
For the Community-Based Adult Services (CBAS) program in 2020, just 15.8% of the estimated 243,400 eligible recipients were served by the program. For the Multipurpose Senior Services Program (MSSP), just 9.7% of the estimate 106,700 eligible recipients were served by the program. Of individuals currently using CBAS services, the greatest percentage reside in Los Angeles, where 38% of eligible adults are using these services.
Kathryn Kietzman was quoted. “Supportive programs provided to older adults and adults with disabilities at home and in the community are essential to maintaining physical and mental health. As the state continues to implement its Master Plan for Aging, it is critical that gaps in access to long-term services and supports are addressed.”
“Supportive programs provided to older adults and adults with disabilities at home and in the community are essential to maintaining physical and mental health,” said Kathryn Kietzman, director of the center’s Health Equity Program. “As the state continues to implement its Master Plan for Aging, it is critical that gaps in access to long-term services and supports are addressed.”
“The level of unmet need is pretty staggering,” Kathryn G. Kietzman, the lead study author, said in an interview. “There’s a big void in what is available to folks.”
In two new studies, Kietzman and Lei Chen, a graduate student researcher at the Center, analyzed the need for long-term services and support among adults age 65 and older and adults with disabilities and assessed the financial constraints that limit options for such supportive care. The studies used data from the 2019–20 California Long-Term Services and Supports Survey (LTSS), a follow- to UCLA CHPR’s California Health Interview Survey (CHIS).