Developments regarding ways to connect elderly or disabled people with care

Kaiser Health News reports on how one program helps people on Medicaid move out of institutional settings and return to the community while The New York Times reports on an agreement that might make it easier for people with chronic conditions and disabilities to qualify for Medicare coverage of home health care, skilled nursing home-stays and outpatient therapy.

Kaiser Health News: Nursing Home Patients Returning To The Community
After nearly two years in a Baltimore nursing home, Sonia Savage was eager to leave. She was in her late 20s, surrounded by older people and feeling 'it wasn't a place for me.' … Savage is one of 1,336 disabled or elderly low-income Marylanders who as of early July had moved out of nursing homes and other institutional settings as part of a national program called Money Follows the Person. The goal is to return them to the community (Bergal, 10/22). 

The New York Times: Settlement Eases Rules For Some Medicare Patients
Tens of thousands of people with chronic conditions and disabilities may find it easier to qualify for Medicare coverage of potentially costly home health care, skilled nursing home stays and outpatient therapy under policy changes planned by the Obama administration (Pear, 10/22).

More news on Medicaid and nursing home payments--

The Texas Tribune: Tiny Medicaid Rounding Errors Could Be Costly To Repair
When federal auditors analyzed the Department of Aging and Disability Services' Medicaid payments to nursing home providers in June, they found 11 mistakes -- pennies worth of rounding errors that amounted to 53 cents. Now, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services wants the state to fix the minor payment problem, at a cost of up to $1.2 million to Texas taxpayers (Ramshaw, 10/23).