Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services Programs: Data Update December 2011

Developing home & community-based service (HCBS) alternatives to institutional care has been a priority for many state Medicaid programs over the last three decades. While the majority of Medicaid long-term care dollars still go toward institutional care, the national percentage of Medicaid spending on HCBS has more than doubled from 19% in 1995 to 43% in 2008. More than 3 million people were served by Medicaid HCBS programs in 2008 and hundreds of thousands of people are on waiting lists.