Evaluation of Ohio's Assisted Living Medicaid Waiver Program

MBRI has collaborated with Scripps Gerontology Center to evaluate whether Ohio 's House Bill 66, which allows Medicaid recipients to choose to reside in assisted living through a Medicaid waiver, is cost-effective and whether it supports the principles of assisted living.  Funded by the Ohio Department of Aging, the purpose of the project was to evaluate three independent components of the waiver program: 1) consumers' access to the waiver program; 2) the assessment and service plan process; and 3) the cost-effectiveness of the waiver program.  MBRI was responsible for evaluating the second component – the assessment and service plan process.  The final summary report for the entire evaluation, and a report specific to the Assessment and Service Plan Process are available below.

Assisted Living Final Summary Report>>

Case Study>>

Capturing the Training Needs of Direct Care Workers

The Margaret Blenkner Research Institute of Benjamin Rose is conducting a study on the high levels of job dissatisfaction and high turnover rates of direct care workers. In this project, Benjamin Rose is surveying both direct care workers and their supervisors from a spectrum of longterm care agencies, i.e., nursing homes, assisted living facilities and home health agencies.

To read the Executive Summary report on "Better Jobs Better Care" <<Click Here>>

Click the image to read the article

This article appears as a reprint from the Better Jobs Better Care Insights Newsletter, No.8, Fall 2005, by permission of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging. Copyright 2005, AAHSA.

A New Scale to Measure Values and Preferences in
Everyday Care Planning for Older Adults

As part of an ongoing caregiving research project, members of the Margaret Blenkner Research Institute are gathering data from older adults with dementia and family caregivers about their values and preferences for everyday care planning.  Results show that increasing a caregiver's understanding of his or her relative's care preferences can lead to fewer feelings of overload, burden, and depression for caregivers.  The Values and Preferences Scale was recently developed as a tool for researchers and practitioners to facilitate the discussion and understanding of care preferences within caregiving families.  Using The Values and Preferences Scale, older adults and their family caregivers rate the importance of 24 factors to be considered when making decisions about care such as keeping the same doctors or living at home.  The responses of older adults and caregivers can be compared to highlight discrepancies in the importance that each respondent places on a factor.  These discrepancies can be discussed among family members to improve quality of care and lessen the stress associated with chronic illness. 

<<Click here for a pdf copy of The Values and Preferences Scale>>

MBRI Survey Report
Results From the Cuyahoga County Direct Care Workforce Organizational Survey

MBRI has conducted a three year survey of all long-term care organizations in Cuyahoga County to examine recruitment and retention practices and concerns faced by nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and home care agencies. The survey was called for by the Long Term Care Workforce Initiative Sub-Committee of The Senior Success Vision Council and was funded by the United Way. Cuyahoga Community College , Office of Community Continuing Education, Center for Applied Gerontology acted as the Lead Agency.

Data was collected at three different times, for 2003, 2004, and 2005, regarding wages, benefits, retention strategies, and recruitment strategies.  This report briefly summarizes results of the survey.

<<pdf of full survey report>>

<<Long Term Care Workforce Initiative website>>