Annual Report

​In 2010, the Affordable Care Act extended the Federal Money Follows the Person (MFP) Demonstration Program through 2016. Illinois was selected as an MFP Demonstration Program in 2007.  The Department of Healthcare and Family Services plans to continue participation in the program along with our sister agencies through the end of the demonstration. The goals for the MFP Program include: rebalancing the long term care system by increasing the use of home and community-based services; elimination of barriers that prevent Medicaid-eligible individuals from receiving support in settings of their choice; and the provision of quality assurance systems to ensure the health and safety of individuals served under the MFP Program.

Illinois’ MFP Program relies on a strong collaborative, inter-agency approach to the implementation of the program. The Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) partners with the Department on Aging (DoA), Department of Human Services’ Division of Mental Health (DHS MH), Division of Rehabilitation Services (DHS DRS), and Division of Developmental Disabilities (DHS DD), and the Department of Housing Development Authority (IHDA) on the formation of policy and implementation issues related to MFP.  Another critical partner to the MFP Program is the University of Illinois (UIC) at Chicago – College of Nursing.  HFS utilizes the UIC College of Nursing as its Quality Assurance agent.

HFS has provided the DHS/Division of Developmental Disabilities with the necessary support for their full participation in MFP, which is expected to occur January 1, 2012.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services provided states with an opportunity to improve the collaboration between the MFP Program and the Aging Disability Resource Centers (ADRCs). HFS was notified that our grant proposal was awarded the full amount that was requested. HFS in collaboration with DoA selected three ADRC’s – Age Options, Northeastern Illinois Area on Aging, and Central Illinois Area on Aging to pilot a coordinated, cross disability approach to outreach and engagement of potential MFP participants. Increased transition numbers for the three selected pilot sites is an expectation under the two-year grant.

States are required to reinvest rebalancing funds back into the community system of services and supports. The rebalancing funds are the net federal revenues, above the regular Federal Medicaid Assistance Percentage (FMAP), from the enhanced FMAP match rate that states receive for expenditures for qualified and demonstration Home and Community Based Service Waiver (HCBS) services provided to MFP participants during their first 365 days of community living. Using a combination of MFP rebalancing funds and administrative claiming, HFS along with DMH has selected three areas of the state for expansion of mental health services under MFP – Peoria, Springfield and DuPage County. Selection of these sites was based on their capacity to provide Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) and the nursing home populations necessary to provide an adequate supply of potential MFP enrollees. Increased MFP transitions is an expectation for these three sites. Additionally, HFS expects to increase the coordination of housing resources through the establishment of a Statewide Housing Coordinator.

HFS, in collaboration with our state agency partners and stakeholders, is in the process of updating the MFP marketing and outreach materials, including the development of an MFP participant packet to be distributed to nursing homes, ombudsmen, and other potential referral sources; the activation of the MFP Web site; and the development of an MFP self-referral form.

The MFP Program transitioned an additional 53 participants during CY 2011 with a total of 237 successful transitions. HFS anticipates growth in the number of transitions for FY 2012 due to a number of factors including the settlement of two Olmstead related class action lawsuits – Ligas and Colbert; the Administration’s Rebalancing Initiative; the MFP/ADRC collaboration; the expansion of MFP/MH downstate; and the full participation of DDD in MFP.