Walton Options to Manage the local Georgia Money Follows the Person Project
Beginning July 1, 2013, Walton Options Augusta will become the managing agency for the local Money Follows the Person program. Walton Options is working in conjunction with the CSRA Aging and Disability Resource Center to provide nursing home and other transition services. Money Follows the Person (MFP) allows people in in-patient facilities (i.e. hospitals, nursing homes or other long-term care facilities) who are elderly or have physical or developmental disabilities to move out and receive support services to live in their own homes and communities. Money follows the participant by allowing the state to pay for long-term support services in a home and community-based setting rather than an institutional setting. In order to be eligible for MFP, you must:
- Live in an inpatient facility (i.e. nursing home, hospital or intermediate care facility) for at least 90 consecutive days (short-term rehabilitative stays don’t count)
- Be a Medicaid beneficiary for at least one day prior to transition
- Meet institutional level of care
- Move into a qualified residence (home, apartment or group setting)
Referrals to the program can be made by the individual themselves, nursing home or other facility staff, or a family member. Once a referral is received, an Options Counselor or Transition Coordinator will make contact to arrange a screening to determine a persons eligibility for MFP and to find out what may be needed in order to help them resettle in the community. The Options Counselor or Transition Coordinator will then assist in arranging home and community-based services through one of Georgia’s Medicaid waiver program or other Medicaid services. With assistance from the Options Counselor and Transition Coordinator, the person that wishes to transition and their family, friends, and representatives will begin planning together for what that person want their life in the community to be like. When they are ready to leave the facility, the MFP program can provide assistance such as security and utility deposits, furnishings and basic household items, moving costs, environmental modifications to make their home or apartment accessible, connections with peer supporters and other community resources, and other additional services.
Walton Options is able to provide transition services to people living in the following Georgia counties: Burke, Columbia, Emanuel, Glascock, Hancock, Jackson, Jefferson, Jenkins, Johnson, Lincoln, McDuffie, Richmond, Screven, Taliafferro, Washington, Warren and Wilkes.
For further information about Money Follows the Person in Georgia, you can contact the Georgia Department of Community Health website. If you or someone you know is wanting to transition from institutional living to community living, please fill out the Referral Form or call Walton Options and ask to speak with an Options Counselor or Transition Coordinator.