The California Association of Area Agencies on Aging (C4A) joins with its many partners in the consumer network to provide leadership in the development and restructuring of California’s long-term care system.
C4A’s primary goal for a long-term care system is maintaining individuals in their own homes in the least restrictive, most home-like environment. It is the goal that older persons and adults with disabilities will have access to a wide range of options for community-based long-term services, enabling them to live in their local community with independence and dignity. As such, C4A endorses the development of a long-term care system for the State of California, which is built upon the following principles:
A Service Delivery System That…
- 
Is built on the concept of self-determination.
 - 
Responds to the needs of the person that includes mental, physical, social, and health needs.
 - 
Responds to the needs of individuals, their families, and caregivers.
 - 
Is responsive, effective, and efficient.
 - 
Recognizes that every person has the right to live with dignity and choice.
 - 
Is consumer directed in which policy decisions and service design reflect the voice of the consumer.
 - 
Is based upon an expansive local planning process, and that promotes local decision-making and flexibility in program implementation.
 - 
Includes a State financing structure that accommodates a funding methodology for implementing the concept of “money follows the person,” in support of a comprehensive and coordinated system of care.
 
