The Center for Community Solutions will develop and advocate for a policy framework that addresses the need to adequately and appropriately finance the continuum of long-term care services in Ohio.

The demographics in Ohio are changing as the Baby Boomer generation begins to retire in 2010. As the older population continues to grow, the strain on financing long-term care also will continue to grow.

Ohio's long-term care system is a myriad of services that are available to older adults and their families through private pay, federal assistance programs (e.g. Medicaid and Medicare), modest levels of state financial support, and, in man Ohio counties, senior service property tax levies. Under the general oversight of the Ohio Department of Aging and a network of regional Area Agencies on Aging, this system offers older Ohioans an array of long-term care services addressing basic needs. Long-term care needs can be addressed in a variety of settings from individual residences to assisted living facilities and nursing homes. Ohio's system delivery and finance is heavily skewed toward institutional services.

In light of Ohio's structural operating budget deficit, the growing proportion of older adults that is expected to continue for over two decades, and the usually greater costs associated with addressing long-term care in institutional settings, it is in the state's interest to initiate long-range changes addressing service adequacy and affordability.

This priority will be conducted with these goals in mind:

• Develop and facilitate a state and federal policy agenda to make improvements in programs, services, and policies that support strategies for spending long-term care dollars in an effective manner that benefits older adults through a full continuum of care.
• Provide fiscal analysis to reform long-term care financing to support the state's current initiative, the Unified Long-term Care Budget.
• Together with Benjamin Rose's Margaret Blenkner Institute, convene a broadly representative statewide advisory panel of experts, advocates, and agency representatives in conjunction with the Council on Older Persons, to review options, suggest ideas and provide critical analysis of the policy agenda.
• Coordinate a nonpartisan advocacy initiative in alignment with COOP and other such networks to support strategies that have a positive impact on older adults.