Minnesota leads the nation in long-term care services and supports offered to older adults, people with physical disabilities, and family caregivers, according to an AARP scorecard released Thursday.
The triennial report compares state long-term care systems using dozens of metrics across five key areas: affordability and access, choice of setting and provider, safety and quality, support for family caregivers, and community integration. This data helps AARP recommend policy changes, like bolstering direct care jobs and investing in home- and community-based supports.
The 2023 scorecard, in particular, reflects changes AARP made to its rating methodology in an effort to better measure state initiatives to modernize long-term care after the Covid-19 pandemic ravaged nursing homes and other facilities.
AARP Public Policy Institute SVP Susan Reinhard said the findings can “provide a roadmap for progress across the country” as the nation’s long-term care sector continues to rebound from the pandemic.
“We know that there’s no magic bullet to reform and modernize long-term care systems overnight,” she told reporters during a virtual news conference on September 28. “The data in our scorecard report can guide not only governors and state legislators on smart policies and initiatives for the future, but provide the federal government with a window into what works and why.”
State ratings
AARP ranked Minnesota first overall, with top marks given for family caregiver support and community integration. Washington, DC, as well as Washington state, Massachusetts, and Colorado rounded out the remaining top five, or “Tier 1,” scorecard slots. The report noted that those states “consistently scored high enough across all 50 indicators.”
West Virginia ranked the lowest in AARP’s report due to poor scores for community integration, choice of setting and provider, and affordability and access. Alabama, South Carolina, Mississippi, and Tennessee also ranked among the scorecard’s bottom five, or “Tier 5,” states.
The scorecard listed Delaware, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, and New York as the “most improved states” compared to the 2020 report.
The AARP Public Policy Institute first published the state scorecard—which receives support from the AARP Foundation, Commonwealth Fund, John A. Hartford Foundation, and SCAN Foundation—in 2011.
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