DISEASES;

You wanted information on the state’s Alzheimer’s respite program (the Connecticut Statewide Respite Care Program), including the number of clients served, historical funding levels, and a legislative history of the law.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The Connecticut Statewide Respite Care Program, established in 1998, gives families who care for relatives with Alzheimer’s or related disorders an occasional break by paying for limited respite care services. The program is run by the Department of Social Services (DSS) in partnership with the area agencies on aging and the Alzheimer’s Association of Connecticut. It pays for up to $ 3,500 of respite services per patient per year and requires a 20% co-payment from the patient. Patients are eligible for this program if they have annual incomes of no more than $ 30,000 and assets of no more than $ 80,000. They cannot be receiving or eligible for Medicaid. Participants can receive the respite care in their home, at an adult day care center, or other out-of-home service (out-of-home services other than adult day care are limited to 30 days annually). There is no age requirement for eligibility.

Families can apply by contacting their local area agency on aging for an application. The patient or his representative must return the completed application form with income and asset documentation and a physician’s statement that the patient has Alzheimer’s disease or the related disorders of multi-infarct dementia, Parkinson’s disease, Lewy Body Dementia, Huntington’s disease, Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus, or Pick’s disease. A care manager from the area agency assesses the patient’s care needs and orders the services. These may include, but need not be limited to: (1) homemaker services, (2) adult day care, (3) temporary care in a licensed medical facility, (4) home-health care, or (5) companion services.

CLIENTS SERVED

Table 1 below shows the number of clients the program served annually, according to DSS.

Table 1: Clients Served by Respite Care Program

*program operational 10 months only

The figures listed for clients served include those clients who recertify eligibility from year to year. In addition, variability of care plans and their cost affects the number of clients served from year to year.

FUNDING LEVELS

Table 2 shows historical funding levels for the program, according to the Office of Fiscal Analysis.

Table 2: Connecticut Statewide Respite Care Program Funding

* The governor’s original proposal asked for $ 1,064,181, the same as the program received in FY 02-03.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

In 1998, the legislature established the program in essentially its current form (PA 98-239, CGS § 17b-349e). The Select Committee on Aging introduced SB 250, which had a public hearing on February 19. The Aging Committee favorably reported a substitute bill to the Human Services Committee, which sent it to the Appropriations Committee. Appropriations sent a favorable substitute (File 534) to the floor on March 16. On May 5, the Senate recommitted the bill to the Appropriations Committee, where it died. But the bill’s subject matter, the respite program, was ultimately included in that year’s DSS Implementer bill (HB 5643), which became PA 98-239.

Since then, there have been only two program changes. In 1999, the legislature allowed participants to use up to 30 days in out-of-home services, instead of the prior 21 days, and exempted adult day care services from this limit (PA 99-162). That same year, another new law allowed the DSS commissioner to allocate any funds over $ 500,000 appropriated for the program among the state's five area agencies on aging based on need. The first $ 500,000 must still be divided equally among the agencies, as it was in FY 98-99 (PA 99-279).

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