44th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2000

REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH TO INITIATE A PROGRAM OF ALL-INCLUSIVE CARE FOR THE ELDERLY IN RURAL AREAS OF NEW MEXICO.

WHEREAS, the "program of all-inclusive care for the elderly", also called PACE, provides acute, primary and long-term care and social and support services to frail elders who qualify for nursing facility placement, but prefer to remain in their own homes; and

WHEREAS, PACE services allow participants to stay in their homes; and

WHEREAS, a PACE program known as St. Joseph senior care is successfully providing services to up to three hundred fifty frail elders in Albuquerque; and

WHEREAS, PACE programs provide comprehensive health and long-term care services at lower cost than can nursing homes; and

WHEREAS, the frail elderly consortium, in its efforts to develop innovative home and community-based alternatives to traditional institutional long-term care, supports the creation of a rural PACE program;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the department of health be requested to initiate a PACE program in a rural community of New Mexico within fiscal year 2001; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the secretary of health.