MBA Operations Policy #8: Rural Minimum Expenditures
This content is part of a public comment period. For more information, refer to Minnesota Board on Aging – State Plan on Aging.
Note: We updated content on this page on April 17, 2025. Changed content is indicated with [add] and [delete].
Authority Reference | OAA Section 307(a)(3)(B) 45 CFR Part 1321.9(c)(2)(viii) |
Operating Category | MBA Operations |
Policy
1. MBA will ensure it will maintain at least minimum expenditures in each fiscal year on services for older individuals residing in rural areas as required by the OAA, which requires at least as much be spent for these services as in fiscal year 2000.
[add] a. MBA is using a more recent benchmark comparison year for purposes of measuring compliance. The most recent federal fiscal year for which MBA has data on this benchmark comparison year is FFY 2005. At that time, MBA estimated the annual cost of serving individuals living in rural areas was $3,673,875. [end add]
2. MBA uses the U.S. Census Bureau definition of “rural”, which means all areas not defined as urban [add] for purposes of the Intrastate Funding Formula and for purposes of this policy [end add]. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, to qualify as an urban area, an area must encompass at least 2,000 housing units or have a population of at least 5,000.
Procedures
1. MBA uses the U.S. Census Bureau definition of urban area to derive what is classified as a rural area. MBA will periodically review the Census Bureau definition of “urban area” as part of the process of developing each four-year State Plan to ensure MBA is using the most current definition.
2. As part of developing the State plan, the MBA shall estimate the projected costs of providing such services to older individuals residing in rural areas, including the costs of providing access to these services, for each fiscal year to which the State Plan applies.
In order to project the costs of providing such services to individuals residing in rural areas, MBA will perform the following steps:
Step 1. Data from the U.S. Decennial Census is obtained for each county in Minnesota for multiple sub-demographics, including 4 age groups; 8 racial and ethnicity groups; whether the person resides in a rural or urban area; their gender; poverty level; and living situation (alone, or with others)
Step 2. Total number of unduplicated individuals who utilized Older Americans Act services (IIIB: supportive services; IIIC1: congregate meals; IIIC2: home-delivered meals; and IIIE: caregiver services) for each AAA for the first quarter (Q1) of the current calendar year (CY) are obtained from PeerPlace.
Step 3. The same sets of data in #2 are obtained for the last full CY that has concluded.
Step 4. The Q1 data is placed into a projection model that incorporates the ratio of unduplicated service utilization for each service during Q1 compared with the full CY for the past 4 completed CYs; and uses this multi-year ratio to project the service utilization for the current unfinished CY.
Step 5. A separate projection model that incorporated the last 4 CYs is used to project the service utilization for the next CY that has yet to begin.
Step 6. The results of these projection models are placed into a .pdf version of a spreadsheet for each AAA.
3. MBA then compares both the projection and actual expenditures to the historical benchmark to ensure it will maintain at least minimum expenditures in each fiscal year on services for older individuals residing in rural areas as [add] the benchmark comparison year of FFY 2005 [end add] [delete] in fiscal year 2000 [end delete].
4. MBA’s plan to meet the needs for such services is to work with AAAs to ensure older individuals living in rural areas of Minnesota are given a preference for services and to monitor this through AAA reporting. AAAs submit, as a component of their annual Area Plan on Aging, a chart estimating the number of older individuals from each population group to be served, by section of Title III funding. MBA staff monitor actual participants served and their characteristics throughout the Area Plan year and worked with the Area Agencies on Aging to remediate any issues, as needed.
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