An area agency on aging representative updated the committee on local services, the WA Cares program pilot for Spokane County and the agency’s concerns about potential state-level Medicaid funding changes.
Lynn Kimball, a representative of Aging and Long Term Care of Eastern Washington, told the committee the agency serves older adults and people with disabilities across five counties and said it assisted about 9,000 people in Spokane last year. Kimball said the agency operates a Community Living Connections information-and-assistance line (more than 4,000 callers last year), options counseling (about 3,000 hours), nutrition programs (about 100,000 meals by Greater Spokane County Meals on Wheels) and Medicaid home-care services for nearly 5,000 people locally.
The nut graf: the agency is participating in the WA Cares program pilot in Spokane, Lewis, Mason and Thurston counties, intended to test services for the first 400 consumers in January before statewide launch. The agency will handle local provider contracting and navigation for callers in the pilot. Kimball said Medicaid changes enacted or proposed at the state level will be the biggest risk to the agency, though she expects federal funding to be relatively stable.
Council members asked about fiscal impacts and workforce implications. Kimball said actual impacts depend on the next state legislative session and budget choices; many long-term-care clients would likely be exempt from proposed work requirements, but eligibility and overall state budget cuts could affect service capacity. Council members discussed monitoring the legislative session and agreed to continue engagement to protect Medicaid-funded long-term-care services.