AGING AND DISABILITY SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
CMS History and Goals for “Money Follows the Person” Grants
Recognizing the challenges states face in rebalancing their long-term care systems, Congress provided funds for the Real Choice Systems Change (RCSC) Grants program. Beginning in 2001, the RCSC grants were designed to assist States and others in building infrastructure that will result in effective and enduring improvements in long-term support systems.
These system changes are designed to enable children and adults of any age, with any payer source, who have a disability or long-term illness to:
- Live in the most integrated community setting appropriate to their individual support requirements and preferences.
- Exercise meaningful choices about their living environment, the providers of services they receive, the types of supports they use, and the manner by which services are provided.
- Obtain quality services in a manner as consistent as possible with their community living preferences and priorities.
Learn more about the CMS Money Follows the Person grants at the national level by visiting the CMS Website.
Money Follows the Person (MFP) initiatives
A number of the RCSC grants awarded were specifically targeted to assist States implementing Money Follows the Person (MFP) initiatives. CMS specified that the purpose of these grants was:
“to enable States to develop and implement strategies to reform the financing and service designs of State long-term support systems so that a coherent package of State Plan and HCBS waiver services is available in a manner that permits funding to ‘follow the person’ to the most appropriate and preferred setting, and financing arrangements enable transition services for individuals who transition between institution and community settings.”
Current Demonstration Objectives:
- Increase the opportunity for people to use home and community-based long-term care services.
- Eliminate barriers in the State law, the State Medicaid plan, the state budget, or otherwise, that restrict the flexible use of Medicaid funds.
- Allow State Medicaid programs to test new options to allow people to move into the community.
- Ensure continuous quality improvement in all demonstration services.
See the original CMS Request for Proposal and other documents on the CMS Website.
