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• A Survey of Mental Health Service Providers

• A Survey of Substance Abuse Providers

• A Compilation of Public Comments

• A Survey of Agencies Serving Older Persons (non-mental health or substance abuse)

• An Analysis of Maine Medicaid Claims Data

• An Analysis of Long-Term Care Assessment Data (nursing facility, residential care, and in-home care)

Following are summaries of studies. For more detail, please see the Appendix.

A questionnaire was mailed in August 1999 to all 90 DMHMRSAS-contracted mental health providers across the state to elicit provider opinions about existing and needed services. Forty-five (45) surveys, or 50%, were completed and returned.

This survey, conducted during the fall of 1999, was designed to gather information from providers about existing and needed services. Ninety-eight (98) questionnaires were sent to licensed substance abuse treatment agencies across the state of Maine, with 49 agencies, or 50%, responding.

A statewide toll-free phone number was set up during the month of October 1999 for the public to call DMHMRSAS in Augusta with concerns or comments regarding the mental health needs of the elderly. This was publicized through flyers flyers that were distributed to providers across the state. A total of 23 calls were received.

In the fall of 1999, the Muskie School surveyed by mail 680 professionals at 537 locations that serve older people. These included area agencies on aging, home health and homemaker providers, hospitals, elderly housing managers, Adult Protective Services (a division of DHS/BEAS), and shelters for homeless persons. This survey sought to identify the perceptions of these providers regarding the mental health needs of their elderly clients, including the need for and availability of services, and barriers to access. Thirty-one (31%) percent of the agencies to whom surveys were mailed completed and returned them.

Maine Medicaid payments for 1998 were analyzed to provide a snapshot of older Medicaid beneficiaries with diagnoses of mental illness. Factors such as beneficiary age, diagnosis and co-occurring diagnoses, and sources, uses and costs of services, were studied.

The Muskie School sought to study the prevalence of mental health diagnoses in the long-term care population as well as indications of undiagnosed mental health conditions and selected demographic factors. To do so, the Muskie School analyzed the long-term care assessments of elderly individuals in Maine seeking admission to nursing homes or requesting in-home services during 1998 (funded through various sections of the Medicaid program and the state funded Home Based Care program). Standard functional assessments are completed by registered nurses. Assessments done in residential care facilities (formerly known as boarding homes), which are similar but differ slightly, were also reviewed. A total of 26,045 assessments were evaluated.