Enabling Personal Preference: The Implementation of the Cash and Counseling Demonstration in New Jersey: Final Report

Publication Date:

Publisher: Center on Aging, University of Maryland

Author(s): B. Phillips; B. Schneider

Research Area: Health

Type: Report

Abstract:

Traditionally, Medicaid supportive services at home have been restricted to human assistance with personal care and homemaking provided by licensed agencies. Increasingly, however, states are offering Medicaid beneficiaries the opportunity to obtain supportive services from individual providers through "consumer-directed" care programs. Cash and Counseling is one such program, offering a flexible monthly allowance to beneficiaries to purchase goods and services related to care. This report describes the design and implementation of Personal Preference, New Jersey's model of Cash and Counseling. The report outlines program eligibility, outreach and enrollment, determination of allowance, reassessment, cash planning, the use of consulting agencies and fiscal services. In addition to reporting on how program administrators dealt with these issues, the authors also draw lessons from their experiences to inform future efforts at consumer-directed personal care.