Long Term Care Imperative

Minnesota Health & Housing Alliance and Care Providers of Minnesota, Minnesota's two long-term care provider associations, are in their fourth year of a collaborative effort to advance a shared vision for older adult housing, health care and supportive services.

As Minnesota's population ages, it is crucial that we transform our fragmented long-term health care delivery system into one that is consumer-focused and offers options and access for all.

The Long-Term Care Imperative has these underlying beliefs:

• Government's role should be simple, clear, and enable a consumer-focused system.

• Older adults choosing congregate living should not be forced to share their living space with a stranger.

• Consumers must have access to relevant information and some measure of control over the purchasing dollar to be fully empowered.

• Consumers of all ages should have clear financial incentives to plan and provide for their future needs.

• Older adults should be integrated into the community, rather than isolated from it.

• A focus on consumer needs and preferences and community capacity, along with competition in the marketplace, will lead to the development of innovative, effective and consumer-responsive services.

While we build the bridge to this vision for the future, providers of older adult services ask that legislators not turn their backs on the people who today reside in nursing homes and assisted living facilities or who are struggling to stay in their own homes. We urge your commitment to:

• Invest in quality care and living choices for all Minnesotans.

• Invest in caregivers, so that providers are able to pay a competitive wage and recruit and retain the best.

• Invest in reform of excessive regulatory oversight that focuses on the wrong things.

• Invest in strong communities, where families and their loved ones can work and continue to live in the communities they helped build.

Aging Services thanks 2008 Annual Sponsor HealthMEDX, Inc. and our other sponsors for their support and partnership.