(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(1) Our delivery of long-term care needs to be vastly improved in order to coordinate services that are appropriate to each individual’s functional needs and financial situation. Care services should be holistic and address the needs of the entire person, including the person’s mental, physical, social, and emotional needs.

(2) The coming age wave will bankrupt California if we maintain the current uncoordinated system of long-term care.

(3) The new generation of aging Californians will desire, expect, and demand a much more responsive, coherent, and human-dignified system of care services.

(4) Multiple funding streams and varied eligibility criteria have created “silos” of services, making it difficult for consumers to move with ease from one service or program to another.

(5) Separate funding streams and uncoordinated services for older adults and adults with disabilities have created barriers in services for these populations. Adults with disabilities often receive long-term care services designed to support and protect the institutionalized older population. Instead, services need to be individualized to empower older adults and persons with disabilities to live in the community.

(6) Historically, two delivery systems, referred to as the medical model and the social model of care, have evolved with little or no coordination between the two.

(7) A high percentage of consumers enter the long-term care system after a hospitalization. Assistance and support following hospitalization would reduce the number of nursing home placements.

(8) The Legislature affirms the notion that individuals should be able to receive care in the least restrictive environment.

(9) Skilled nursing facilities account for 5 percent of the long-term care caseload and 52 percent of the long-term care expenditures. Home and community-based services account for 78 percent of the long-term care caseload, and 13 percent of long-term care expenditures. It is, therefore, more cost-effective to connect consumers with services in the community than to continue to place individuals in institutions.

(10) A number of counties and programs have developed and implemented innovative Internet-based information systems. Some of these systems are designed to help consumers access information regarding long-term care services, and others are designed to help providers track client information.

(11) The California Health and Human Services Agency is developing the “CalCareNet” Web site, which is designed to help the consumer find state-licensed providers of health services, social services, mental health services, alcohol and other drug services, and disability services, and also to find state-licensed care facilities.

(b) It the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to do all of the following:

(1) Ensure that each consumer is able to connect with the appropriate services necessary to meet individual needs.

(2) Better coordinate long-term care delivery, recognizing the elements that are already in place, and expand the availability of long-term care.

(3) Deliver long-term care services in the most cost-effective manner.

(4) Access multiple public and private funding streams, without supplanting existing funding for programs and services.

(Added by Stats. 2002, Ch. 541, Sec. 14. Effective January 1, 2003.)