DURHAM, N.H. - Two University of New Hampshire institutes - the New Hampshire Institute on Health Policy and Practice (NHIHPP) and the Institute on Disability (IOD) - have received $900,000 from the federal department of Health and Human Services for programs to better support seniors, individuals with disabilities, and caregivers as they navigate health and long-term care options. UNH works in concert with the Bureau of Elderly and Adult Services at New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services and the ServiceLink Resource Center (SLRC) Network to implement these projects. 

UNH received a $500,000 two-year Aging and Disability Resource Center Options Counseling Grant, which aims to strengthen the delivery of options counseling through the SLRC Network throughout the state. Options counseling programs help people understand, evaluate, and manage the full range of private and public services and supports available in their community.

ith this grant, the institutes will work to strengthen delivery of options counseling services across the state's ServiceLink Resource Centers and contribute to the development of national standards for long term care options counselors.

In addition, UNH was awarded a $400,000 two-year Evidence Based Care Transition Grant to coordinate and continue to encourage evidence-based care transition models that help older persons or persons with disabilities  transition successfully back to the appropriate setting of their choice after a hospital admission. The grant will enhance the relationship between New Hampshire's ServiceLink Resource Centers, hospitals, and other medical and community providers.

The grants, announced by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius last month, were made possible by the Affordable Care Act and are being administered collaboratively by HHS' Administration on Aging (AoA) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Total grants, awarded to states, territories, tribal and community-based organizations, were $68 million.

"The Institute on Health Policy and Practice and the Institute on Disability are leaders in innovative support strategies for older adults and people with disabilities. These two awards will enhance their current efforts and continue to strengthen the partnership with the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services to serve the people of the state," says Jan Nisbet, senior vice provost for research at UNH. "New Hampshire and UNH once again demonstrate the important partnership between researchers and practitioners with a shared interest in improving the efficacy and efficiency of services for people requiring long-term community supports."

For more information about the New Hampshire Institute for Health Policy and Practice, go to www.nhhealthpolicyinstitute.unh.edu/index.html. For more information about the Administration on Aging and its programs and services, go to www.aoa.gov. For more information about the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, go to www.cms.gov.

The University of New Hampshire, founded in 1866, is a world-class public research university with the feel of a New England liberal arts college. A land, sea, and space-grant university, UNH is the state's flagship public institution, enrolling 12,200 undergraduate and 2,200 graduate students.

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