Amends TCA Title 4 and Title 71.

This bill creates a pilot program, to be known as the Alzheimer's and dementia respite care program, to provide home- and community-based services. The pilot program will be within the agency that has been designated by the commission on aging and disability to plan for and provide services to the elderly and disabled within a defined geographic area (referred to in this bill and summary as the "agency"). The program may be operated using the agency's current respite care infrastructure and must: (1) Provide respite care services for the sole benefit of individuals who are experiencing symptoms of Alzheimer's disease or related dementia and who have received a clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease or dementia; (2) Be operated from July 1, 2023, to January 1, 2026; (3) Begin enrolling individuals no later than January 1, 2023, and offering services no later than July 1, 2023; (4) Actively serve up to 150 enrollees in each calendar year of the program's operation; (5) Give priority for enrollment to those individuals on the wait list for the current state-funded OPTIONS program as of the effective date of this bill; (6) Exclude an individual with Alzheimer's disease or related dementia who is eligible for long-term care services under TennCare; and (7) Be composed of the following two (2) tiers based on a sliding fee scale: (A) Tier 1 is designed to provide services to those applicants with an income level that does not permit personal financing of caregiver services; and (B) Tier 2 is designed to provide services to those applicants with an income level that allows for cost-sharing of services between the applicant and the program. This bill requires the agency to submit a written report no later than January 15, 2024, and each January 15 thereafter until the close of the pilot period, to the chairs of the health and welfare committee of the senate and the health committee of the house on the status of the program. ON APRIL 27, 2022, THE HOUSE ADOPTED AMENDMENTS #1, #2, AND #3 AND PASSED HOUSE BILL 1686, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #1 requires the agency to report the costs of the agency's respite care infrastructure to the commission each year of the pilot program. AMENDMENT #2 requires that the Alzheimer's and dementia respite care pilot program provide home- and community-based services through grants provided to each of the nine area agencies on aging and disability in this state; changes the dates for operation of the pilot program to July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2025; and increases the number of enrollees who may be served in each fiscal year of the program's operation to 250. AMENDMENT #3 removes this bill's authorization for the commission on aging and disability to promulgate rules to effectuate the purposes of this bill.