Report: TN Institutionalization Costs are Highest in the Country
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July 22, 2008
Nashville, TN – Tennessee spends more than any other state in the country when it comes to putting people with disabilities in so-called "developmental centers." A report from the Institute on Community Integration finds the state pays out more than $900 per day per person for institutionalized care.
Dr. Mark Friedman with the Middle Tennessee Advocacy Center says that at the same time, care and support that keeps people in their homes is seeing state funding cuts, even though the home-based care averages just $200 a day.
"There are thousands of people in Tennessee who have gotten out of the institutions and are currently living very successfully in the community – and it costs less."
Dr. Friedman says this new report on the $200 million Tennessee is spending each year on institutionalized care puts the six percent funding cut of community services in a new light.
"Funding cuts for care in the community on the grounds that the costs are too high, without us knowing that really the costs are the highest in the country in institutions - obviously, money could have been saved there."
Dr. Friedman says he understands that some families of people living in the developmental centers prefer that type of care, but he says that care should not be funded at the expense of the thousands living successfully outside of institutions. About 600 people live in Tennessee's three developmental centers.
The state has not yet responded to the report.
To view the full report online, visit rtc.umn.edu/main and select '2007 RISP Report'.