SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1PROGRAM INSTRUCTION

AOA-PI-03-02

January 28, 2003

TO:STATE AGENCIES ON AGING ADMINISTERING   PLANS UNDER TITLES III AND VII OF THE OLDER AMERICANS ACT OF 1965, AS AMENDED; OFFICES OF THE STATE LONG-TERM CARE OMBUDSMAN

SUBJECT:  State Long-Term Care Ombudsman Reports for Federal Fiscal Years 2002-2005

LEGAL AND RELATED

   REFERENCES:  Older Americans Act, as Amended - Section 712 (c) and (h)(1)

This Program Instruction (PI) provides procedures for submitting the State Annual Ombudsman Report to the Administration on Aging (AoA), in accordance with Section 712 (h)(1) of the Older Americans Act (OAA).  The revised reporting form and instructions, which have been approved by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget for Federal Fiscal Years 2002-2005, are attached.  A list of the changes, which were sent to all state ombudsmen and state directors on aging for comment prior to seeking OMB approval, are also attached.   Please note especially the attached “Special Reporting Issues” document,  which addresses coordination between the National Ombudsman Reporting System (NORS) and the State Performance Report (SPR) and basic principles of the NORS.  Also note the new document on complaint codes, which will assist local ombudsmen in determining how to categorize complaints.

**FY 2002: Transition Year**

If state offices of the long-term care ombudsman began using the slightly revised complaint codes and collecting information which they could use in responding to the two new narrative questions, they may send this information in their 2002 reports.  If they did not collect the information in 2002, they should report the information they collected for the requirements in effect for 2002.  All state offices should begin as soon as possible to convert their data collection systems to the new requirements. (Since there is little change between the codes in effect through 2002 and the revised codes, the case and complaint data will be comparable among all the states.)

**The FY 2002 reports are due to AoA on March 31, 2003.**  They must be submitted on the prescribed electronic format.  See the attachment, “Instructions for Updating and Transmitting the National Ombudsman Report Data Input Application (NORDIA)” for submission procedures.

The form “Certification of Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program Expenditures” is enclosed for information only.  Shortly, AoA will send to each state a form with the base year filled in and request that it be completed by the appropriate official and returned by a specified. date.  State agencies on aging will be required to submit this form each year to demonstrate compliance with the ombudsman program funding requirements in the OAA.

**Reports for FY 2003-05**

Unless notified otherwise, reports will be due on January 31 of the year following the close of the Federal  fiscal year, which ends on September 30 of each year.  At the end of the fiscal year, AoA will send reminders to the state ombudsmen and state directors on aging, along with any changes in how the report should be transmitted and any extension in the due date which might be necessary.  As mentioned above, the certification of state expenditures will be a separately-transmitted component of the report.

ATTACHMENTS:The reporting form; instructions for completing the form; a new document on how to code complaints (which state ombudsmen can distribute to local ombudsman programs); a certification of ombudsman program expenditures; a document “Special Reporting Issues;” a document “Instructions for Updating and Transmitting the National Ombudsman Report Data Input Application (NORDIA)” and a table of changes made in the reporting system.

INQUIRIES:General inquiries should be addressed to the appropriate Regional Administrator on Aging.

_____________________________

                    Josefina G. Carbonell

   Assistant Secretary for Aging