(a) Beginning with the 1998–99 fiscal year and contingent on appropriation of funds through the Budget Act, the department may contract with a nonprofit entity, incorporated in California that has been formed for the purpose of serving as the center for long-term care integration. The center may serve as a focal point for facilitating the development of community-based local organizing groups through a public-private partnership.
(b) The nonprofit center may do all of the following:
(1) Serve in an advisory capacity to the key stakeholders in long-term care integration, including consumers, consumer advocacy groups, researchers, representatives of service providers and purchasers, and local and state policymakers.
(2) Assemble, organize, and make available technical information, data, expertise, and models on long-term care integration from across the state and nation.
(3) Assist local communities with long-term care planning and analysis, development of service delivery and financing systems, statewide data sharing, and private fund development.
(4) Coordinate goals and activities with the State Department of Health Services.
(c) The center may build and sustain working partnerships by developing and supporting a cross-county, statewide network of consumers, providers and funders, as well as maintaining an ongoing relationship with the state.
(d) The center may assist the local organizing groups (LOGs) in seeking local financial support, as well as to obtain foundation matching funds for statewide grant-making.
(e) The center may coordinate and disseminate long-term care planning information by identifying key long-term care development issues, and disseminating the information to local planning groups, as needed.
(f) The center may facilitate implementation by identifying and sharing useful tools and resources, designing models for service protocols of the local long-term care integration pilot projects, coordinating information systems, standardizing assessment elements, and providing low-cost training and technical assistance to the LOGs as they progress through common tasks necessary for local development and implementation.
(g) The center may collect and track information across LOG sites.
(h) The center may prepare annual progress reports, and shall provide these reports to the department and the budget committees of the Legislature.
(Added by Stats. 1998, Ch. 310, Sec. 108. Effective August 19, 1998.)