HHS announces new community living grants

The administration also proposed rules for the Community First Choice Option, a program created by healthcare reform that has a similar goal. It provides states with a 6 percent increase in federal matching funds for Medicaid programs to encourage individuals to live in a community setting, as opposed to a nursing home.

“There is more evidence than ever that people who need long-term care prefer to live in their own homes and communities whenever possible,” Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services chief Don Berwick said in a statement. “To restrict these individuals to institutions where even the simplest decisions of the day such as when to get up, what to eat and when to sleep are made by someone else must no longer be the norm.”