From the Nashville Tennessean:

The state of Tennessee ranks last in the nation in funding for nursing home alternatives. As a result, nursing homes have remained virtually the only option for Tennesseans who are elderly or have disabilities and cannot function entirely on their own.

AARP and other advocacy groups have been urging the state for years to provide more balance. This year, Gov. Phil Bredesen has gotten on board, inspired by his 86-year-old mother. While she occasionally needs assistance, she is generally healthy and has no intention of moving from her home, he says.

Bredesen has called for shifting more of the Medicaid dollars Tennessee receives into community and home care.

… As it is now, access to community and home care in Tennessee is fragmented and fraught with red tape — just the wrong note when the patient in question is elderly and needs help. There are individual programs around the state that can show how it should be done, if only the legislature and health-care community will take the challenge.

The governor’s bill should be just the beginning to put this state on the right path — homeward.

Related columns:

• Enable people to live where they thrive
• Change must be more than shift of funds

This entry was posted on Friday, April 4th, 2008 at 3:59 am and is filed under Medicaid/Medicare, NOT2BEMISSED, elderly, housing, nursing homes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post