Money Follows the Person

The Money Follows the Person (MFP) is a Medicaid demonstration program awarded to the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH). The rebalancing program helps people who are living in institutions (i.e., psychiatric residential treatment facilities, nursing homes, or other long-term care facilities) return to their homes and communities while continuing to receive supportive services. By the end of the grant in 2020, DCH seeks to transition 2,754 individuals. The MFP program targets people with developmental disabilities, physical disabilities (under age 65 years), traumatic brain injury, older adults, and youth with a mental health diagnosis. Before and after transition from an institution, MFP services enable participants to pay for things not typically covered by Medicaid (i.e., security and utility deposits, furnishings and basic household items, moving costs, environmental modifications to make a home or apartment accessible, connections with peer supports, and other community services).

The Georgia Health Policy Center provides DCH with an evaluation of the MFP program at the state level. Semiannual evaluations include participant and service characteristics, as well as cost analysis including total expenditures and comparisons of pre- and post-transition services. These evaluations analyze quality of life surveys (conducted pretransition, one, and two years post-transition), along with Georgia-specific supplemental questions. Quality of life results are analyzed by geography (origination and destination) and by housing type in order to help build a model of successful transitions. Additionally, open-ended and qualitative comments are used, as well as a participatory action research method known as Photovoice to enable MFP participants to document their own transition experience.

Georgia Health Policy Center