WHEREAS, in 1998, the State, through the use of case management agencies (CMAs), successfully expanded the Residential Alternative Community Care Program (RACC Program) to serve nursing facility level of care consumers in community care foster family homes; and

WHEREAS, from 1998 through February 2005, licensed CMAs developed over 800 community care foster family homes, presently serving over 1,200 nursing facility level of care consumers; and

WHEREAS, the RACC Program consists of a licensed CMA, coupled with a community care foster family home, to provide high-quality care at a significant cost savings to the State; and

WHEREAS, consumers served in community care foster family homes benefit from the ongoing relationship developed between foster family homes and the CMA; and

WHEREAS, as a result of the RACC Program, various small businesses that positively contribute to the local economy were developed to serve Hawaii's aging population; and

WHEREAS, consumers benefit from having a choice of CMAs; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Human Services (DHS) has proposed QUEST Expanded Access to serve the aged, blind, and disabled population through a Medicaid health maintenance organization, and now the RACC Program is at risk of being dismantled; and

WHEREAS, preliminary discussions with DHS indicate that DHS intends to allow a managing agency to also employ case managers, thereby allowing an inherent conflict of interest to exist when the payer of Medicaid services is also the provider of that service; and

WHEREAS, the State recognizes the unique model of the RACC Program, which has maximized the strengths of the local culture and which is at risk of being exploited by national corporate takeover; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2006, that DHS is requested to ensure that the current RACC Program model is not dismantled in the transition to QUEST Expanded Access; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this body supports the preservation of the current RACC Program, which uses CMAs coupled with a community care foster family home, to create a nursing facility level of care choice for consumers who prefer residential alternatives to nursing home care; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Human Services.

Report Title:

Residential Alternative Community Care Program