The “Money Follows the Person” Rebalancing Demonstration Program (MFP) helps States rebalance their long-term care systems to transition people with Medicaid from institutions to the community. Forty-two States and the District of Columbia have implemented MFP Programs. From spring 2008 through December 2011, nearly 20,000 people have transitioned back into the community through MFP Programs. The Affordable Care Act of 2010 strengthens and expanded the “Money Follows the Person” Program to more States. In 2012 CMS announced an additional opportunity for States to participate and Alabama, Montana, and South Dakota applications were approved.

MFP Program Goals

• Increase the use of home and community-based services (HCBS) and reduce the use of institutionally-based services
• Eliminate barriers in State law, State Medicaid plans, and State budgets that restrict the use of Medicaid funds to let people get long-term care in the settings of their choice
• Strengthen the ability of Medicaid programs to provide HCBS to people who choose to transition out of institutions
• Put procedures in place to provide quality assurance and improvement of HCBS

States participating in MFP are: AL, AR, CA CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, HI, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NV, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV and the District of Columbia. 

The Affordable Care Act Extends & Expands MFP

The Affordable Care Act of 2010 strengthens and expands the “Money Follows the Person” Program to more States:

• Extends the MFP Program through September 30, 2016, and appropriates an additional $2.25 billion ($450 million for each FY 2012-2016). Any funds remaining at the end of each fiscal year carry over to the next fiscal year, and can be used to make grant awards to current and new grantees until FY 2016.

 Grant awards are available to States for the fiscal year they got the award, and 4 additional fiscal years after. Any unused grant funds awarded in 2016 can be used until 2020.

• Expands the definition of who’s eligible for the MFP Program to include people that live in an institution for more than 90 consecutive days. (Exception: days that a person was living in the institution for the sole purpose of receiving short-term rehabilitation services reimbursed by Medicare don’t count toward this 90-day period).

MFP Technical Help for States

National contractors with subject matter expertise are available to support CMS, MFP grantees and others with technical assistance on program implementation, promote best practices and provide guidance on MFP quality improvement strategies to enhance system performance and individual consumer outcomes.

More information on MFP Technical Assistance see: www.mfp-tac.com.

For additional information and/or printer friendly version of any report: http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/health/moneyfollowsperson.asp

To see the Annual Comprehensive Evaluation reports for the MFP Grant program click here.

To see the Topic Reports on specific elements of the MFP program click here.

To see the National summaries of the MFP program Implementation Progress click here.

To view the 2012 MFP Planning Grant solicitation, click  here. 

To see the presentations from the MDS 3.0 Section Q Training held on March 7 and March 9, 2012, click here.

To see the conference agenda and handouts from the MDS 3.0 Section Q Training held on March 7 and March 9, 2012, click here. 

To see the Section Q point of contact list, CMS’s Responses to Section Q Questions from December 2010 to June 2012, and reference materials designed to assist with Section Q implementation click here.

To see  an overview of MFP Grantee Progress, click here.