00                   HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 32                                                                   
01 Relating to home health services for older Alaskans and adults with disabilities.                                       
02 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
03       WHEREAS the state has the second largest growth rate in the nation of persons over                              
04 65 years of age residing in the state; and                                                                              
05       WHEREAS the state has a large number of persons with disabilities waiting for                                   
06 available services; and                                                                                                 
07       WHEREAS, according to research conducted by the Alaska State Legislature                                        
08 research services, home health service is far more cost-effective than more restrictive choices;                        
09 and                                                                                                                     
10       WHEREAS the state has been a leader in the nation in creating a system of least                                 
11 restrictive care for persons with disabilities; and                                                                     
12       WHEREAS facilitation of home health services for older Alaskans and persons with                                
13 disabilities allows those persons the option of remaining at home as long as possible and                               
14 increases their important role in family and community; and                                                             
15       WHEREAS many families who care for older Alaskans and persons with disabilities                                 
16 while maintaining employment and other family responsibilities are subject to burnout or                                

01 failure in caregiver roles caused by unrelieved stress; and                                                             
02       WHEREAS, by expanding more cost-effective home health services, including                                     
03 nonmedical care, supervision, or socialization, and fulfilling goals identified in a therapeutic                        
04 care plan under the home and community base waiver program, older Alaskans and adults                                   
05 with disabilities will maximize the potential to stay at home for as long as possible;                                  
06       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature promotes the expansion of                                      
07 home health services to older Alaskans and adults with disabilities by requesting that the                              
08 governor direct the Department of Health and Social Services to apply to the federal                                    
09 government in the next fiscal year during reauthorization of the state's medical assistance                             
10 program for additional waivers under the home and community based waiver program to                                     
11 better serve older Alaskans and adults with disabilities through a federally reimbursable                               
12 service either as a separate service or as a service that may be combined with other waivers;                           
13 and be it                                                                                                               
14       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests the                                    
15 governor to direct the Department of Health and Social Services to make available expanded                              
16 home health services, subject to other federal and state limits, as part of a recipient's approved                      
17 plan of care to allow a primary caregiver to work, to allow a primary caregiver to sleep during                         
18 normal nighttime hours if the recipient of care cannot be safely left unsupervised during the                           
19 caregiver's sleep hours, and to allow supervision or monitoring of a recipient who is not                               
20 otherwise safe while sleeping.