Section 52-8-203 - Alzheimer's and dementia respite care pilot program(a) As used in this section:(1) "Agency" means an area agency on aging and disability as defined in § 52-8-101;(2) "Alzheimer's disease or related dementia" means the diseases and conditions characterized by a decline in memory, language, problem-solving, and other thinking skills that affect an individual's ability to perform everyday activities;(3) "Informal caregiver" means a spouse, adult child, relative, or friend who provides unpaid care services to an individual, in the individual's home, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease or related dementia;(4) "Program" means the Alzheimer's and dementia care respite program created by this section; and(5) "Respite care":(A) Means temporary, substitute support or living arrangements to provide a brief period of relief or rest for informal caregivers. As used in this subdivision (a)(5), "substitute support" includes, but is not limited to, the following homemaker services:(i) In-home respite or companionship;(iii) Assistance with personal care, bathing, medication monitoring, and chores;(iv) Caregiver training for unpaid, informal caregivers;(v) Four (4) hours of overnight respite in a facility; and(vi) Any other goods or services necessary to maintain the person with Alzheimer's or related dementia at home; and(B) Includes in-home care by appropriately trained individuals, or care in an adult day care, assisted living, or nursing home setting, on an intermittent, occasional, or emergency basis.(b)(1) There is created the Alzheimer's and dementia respite care pilot program to provide home- and community-based services through grants provided to each of the nine (9) area agencies on aging and disability in this state.(2) The program may be operated using an agency's existing respite care infrastructure.(3) An agency shall report the costs of the agency's respite care infrastructure to the department each year of the pilot program.(4) The program must:(A) Be based on grants provided to each of the nine (9) area agencies on aging and disability in this state for respite care services for the sole benefit of individuals who are experiencing symptoms of Alzheimer's disease or related dementia or who have received a clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease or related dementia;(B) Be operated from July 1, 2022, to December 31, 2025;(C) Actively serve up to a total of two hundred twenty-five (225) enrollees, at one (1) time, in each fiscal year of the program's operation;(D) Reimburse utilizing the department's yearly approved homemaker service unit cost rate;(E) Give priority for enrollment to those individuals on the waitlist for the current state-funded OPTIONS program as of May 25, 2022;(F) Exclude an individual with Alzheimer's disease or related dementia who is eligible for long-term care services under the Medical Assistance Act of 1968, compiled in title 71, chapter 5, part 1; and(G) Provide preference to individuals at or below two hundred fifty percent (250%) of the federal poverty level.(5) Each agency shall submit a written report no later than January 15, 2023, and by January 15 each year thereafter, until the close of the pilot program period, to the chairs of the health and welfare committee of the senate and the health committee of the house of representatives on the status of the program. The report must include, at a minimum, the following:(A) The total funds spent on the program;(B) The amount of administrative costs to operate the program;(C) The number of individuals and informal caregivers served by the program;(D) The income ranges of the individuals and informal caregivers served by the program; and(E) The efficacy of the program.(c) This section does not create an entitlement to services through the program, and the services provided and the number of individuals served by the program are subject to appropriations by the general assembly.Added by 2024 Tenn. Acts, ch. 688,s 2, eff. 7/1/2024.