H05-075--Procedure

September 20, 2005

TO: / Area Agency on Aging Directors
FROM: / Penny Black, Director, Home and Community Services Division
SUBJECT: /
REVISED REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR THE FAMILY CAREGIVER SUPPORT PROGRAM
Purpose: / To inform Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) of changes to the reporting requirements for the Family Caregiver Support Program (FCSP). To provide therevised FCSP report forms to meet the new requirements. Optional updated Contact and Intake forms are provided.
Background: / The U.S. Administration on Aging (AoA) revised the reporting requirements for the National Family Caregiver Support Program (NFSCP). In order to comply with the report requirements, new FCSP report forms; one for family caregivers who care for adults and another for grandparents and relatives raising children over the age of sixty are provided. It is also possible for AAAs to enter all of the required data directly into SAMS instead of submitting the data through the separate quarterly report form.
What’s new, changed, or
Clarified: /
  1. Changes to the FCSP reporting process include:
1. New reporting elements:
  • the gender of theprimary caregiver;
  • whether thecaregiver lives in a rural area;
  • the number of providers contracted for each of the five core services; and
  • the number of caregivers who received assistance.
2. Changes to theexistingdemographic reporting categories:
  • age breakdowns for the primary caregiver and the care receiver;
  • race and ethnicity ofthe primary caregiver; and
  • relationshipofthe caregiver to the care receiver.
3Required Demographics(in # 1 and 2) are to be collected for caregivers who receivethe following FCSP core services: access assistance (intake), counseling, training, support groups (when possible), respite care and supplemental services.
4Because of the complexity of completing all of the required reporting elements for both State and National FCSP without a statewide online system, Aging and Disability Services Administration (ADSA) is holding back the following elements until further notice:
  • Question of whether the caregiverauthorized to receive respite care and/or supplemental services is caring for a care receiver with a monthly income at or below 40 percent of the State Median Income;
  • Primary presenting health condition of the care receiver; and
  • Breakdown of units of service for different types of supplemental services.
  1. For the current time, ADSA requires that caregiver demographics be reported separately for the services; support groups, counseling and training.
  1. Similar demographic and service data is also required on older (age 60 and over) grandparents and other relatives raising children who receive a NFCSP grandparent/relative funded service. An additional question for this population includes the number of children being raised in each family. Because the AoA report for this kinship caregiver population is separate from the general family caregiving report and also the Kinship Caregivers Support Program, a separate NFSCP report form and optional Contact/Intake formsis provided.
  1. For those AAAs who want to report the FCSP via SAMS, the capability to do so now exists. If SAMS is used, a separate report form is not needed as long as the up-to-date information has been recordedno later than January 16, 2006.
  1. For the purpose of collecting state specific information, the following questions will continue to be collectedfor both State and National FCSP and can be reported in SAMS:
  • the number of English and Non-English Speaking caregivers, (AAAs no longer need to report to ADSA the individual language breakdowns); and
  • the care receiver’s date of birth todetermine which funding source (state or federal) is most appropriate.
  • Individual client level data under the category of Assistance (intake).
  1. Over the coming year, the FCSP and the Information and Assistance screening and reporting systems will be worked on to better coordinate the two program systems. The goal is to develop an online intake and report system that will reduce duplication of intake information and make reporting much more efficient.
IV. An optional revised FCSP Contact and Intake form developed by the Snohomish County Long-Term Care and Aging Division AAA can be used and/or revised to meet your AAAs needs. The revised FCSP Contact and Intake forms include optional questions (e.g., available physician, Medicaid/Medicare/Veteran status,) which some AAAs might find useful. Questions on the Intake Form which answer the required demographic or eligibility questions include: Section B. 3, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, and Section C. 5, and 17.
ACTION: / EffectiveOctober 1, 2005, AAAs should begin collecting the additional information on FCSP (state and federal) caregivers and on NFCSP grandparents/relatives raising children. The first FCSP and NFSCP grandparent/relatives report will cover the period of service activity from October1 through December 31, 2005. The ADSA report will be due onJanuary 16, 2006. ADSA recognizes that the report deadline for the next report is tight. The short turnaround time frame is needed this one time in order to submit a final report to the AoA by January 31, 2006.
Related
REFERENCES: / To see the new AoA Requirements, go to the Aging Network Section, then to theResource Page for the Revised State Program Report on the AoA website located at:
Pages relevant to the National Family Caregiver Support Program can be found on pages 7-11 and along with the definitions on pages 20-24.
ATTACHMENT(S): /

CONTACT(S): / Michael Blonden, Program Manager (for reporting issues)
Decision Support Unit
360/725-2323

Hilari Hauptman: Kinship and Family Caregiver Program Manager
State Unit on Aging
360/725-2556

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