No more nursing homes

"We are never going to build another nursing home," says Patrick Flood, commissioner of Vermont's Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living (DAIL). "It is an outdated model."

Mr. Flood was quoted in a Wall Street Journal article (Oct. 23, A1) on Vermont's pioneering program to offer its elderly and physically disabled the long-term setting of their choice.

The program, "Choices for Care," is a Medicaid Section 1115 waiver demonstration project. Where previously the only Medicaid choice was institutional care, now there is equal entitlement to home and community-based services. In an Oct. 5 press release, Vermont Governor Jim Douglas stated of the program begun in the fall of 2005, "On the first anniversary of this waiver, all signs point to success. Our push for this waiver was driven by the belief that more people will choose to have their needs met in their own homes and communities rather than in institutions."

Vermont also publishes an annual 10-year forecast of long-term care needs reflecting the state's changing demographics and trends. Its latest report details the implementation of "Choices for Care."

Choices for Care (October 2005, pdf, 25pp/168kB)

2005-2015: Shaping the Future of Long Term Care and Independent Living (May 2006, pdf, 45pp/268kB)