Definitions of Support-Related Terms
Cognitive Disabilities: a disability that impacts an individual's ability to access, process, or remember information.
Fair Hearing: a process that allows an individual receiving supports to appeal the decisions of an assessment in the event that the individual disagrees with the outcome of the assessment
Family Caregivers: members of a family who give support to one of their family members in order to assist that person in living in their home and participating in community activities.
Family Care Provider (New York State): a family member who agrees to take the person needing assistance into the family member's home in order to support that person; in return the family member receives some financial compensation.
Fiscal Assessment: part of Onondoga County Long-Term Care Office's initial and ongoing assessment of a person's home care. In a fiscal assessment, the total number of hours and money required for a person to receive the supports they need to stay in their home is compared to a standard based on 90% of the cost of nursing home placement in 1986. If the money required for the person to get assistance in their own home exceeds the 90% figure, the county may decide to discontinue providing services to the individual, and the individual is usually referred to a nursing home.
Institutional Placement: placement in a facility such as a nursing home, group home, or other institutional setting, in order for that person to receive the services and support they need.
Home Care Services: ongoing support that allows a person to live in their own home and that is necessary for more than 60 continuous days a year. Eligibility, and type and amount of services available, are determined by a Medicaid-certified county agency. Services may include health-related task assistance, activities of daily living, light housekeeping, laundry, and grocery shopping for the individual being supported.
Home and Community Supports: help with accomplishing activities of daily living (eating, using the bathroom, grooming, dressing, bathing, and transferring), instrumental activities of daily living (meal preparation, managing finances, shopping, household chores, phoning, and participating in the community) and health-related functions . These can be done through hands-on assistance, supervision and/or cueing. They also include help with learning, keeping and enhancing skills to accomplish such activities (from ADAPT's definition for community attendant services and supports as envisioned in MiCASSA).These supports allow the individual being supported to live in the home of their choice and to engage in valued community activities
Long-Term Supports: assistance that allows an individual to live in the home and community of their choice.
Medicare: The United States government's health insurance program for the aged and some people with disabilities. Medicare is currently available to people 65 and older and people with certain disabilities.
Medicaid: State programs of public assistance to persons regardless of age whose income and resources are insufficient to pay for health care. The United States federal government provides matching funds to the state Medicaid programs.
Out-of-Home Placement: placement in any facility that is not the person's home in order for that person to access the supports they need. This may include a nursing home, an ICF/MR nursing home, ICF/MR group home, or other institutional settings.
Personal Care: "some or total assistance with personal care or hygiene, dressing and feeding; nutritional and environmental support functions; and health-related tasks…Personal care services…can be provided only if the services are medically necessary and the social services district reasonably expects that the patient's health and safety in the home can be maintained by the provision of such services…" (Sec. 505.14, Department Regulations) The person must be medically stable in order to receivve services, and must be self-directing, or have a seelf-directing other.
Self-Determination: according to Self Advocates Becoming Empowered (1996), "self-determination is speaking up for our rights and responsibilities and empowering ourselves to stand up for what we believe in. This means being able to choose where we work, live, and our friends; to educate ourselves and others, to work as a team to obtain common goals; and to develop the skills that enable us to fight for our beliefs, to advocate for our needs, and to obtain the level of independence that we desire"
Self-Directing: (New York State): [the patient] is capable of making choices about his/her activities of daily living, understanding the impact of the choice and assuming responsibility for the results of the choice.
Self-Directing Other: (New York State: extension of a self-directing patient): the individual providing personal care services carries out the functions and tasks identified in the patient's plan of care in accordance with specific instructions by the patient.
Supports: any activities or assistance which allow an individual to exercise control over where and how they live and what they do with their time. Supports may be things like assistance with personal or medical needs, assistance with activities like shopping, recreational activities, or balancing a checkbook, or, in some cases, making modifications which allow the individual to continue living at home or to gain greater independence in living at home.
Task-Based Assessment: part of Onondoga County Long-Term Care Office's assessment which determines which tasks person needs assistance with or to have performed by others. There is a fixed time assigned to each task. A nurse may assign additional time for a particular task if the person requires additional assistance.