Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle (D) has signed new legislation that is designed to cut nursing home use by 25% over the next eight years. The law focuses on expanding the state’s use of home and community-based services.

Currently the state’s Community Integration Program (CIP II) offers home- and community-based services for nursing home residents who are relocated or diverted from nursing homes. Under the law, however, individuals who are still in the community and may be at risk of entering a nursing home can elect to participate in CIP II. They are not required to do so, though. The program is supported by state Medicaid funding.

“This bill will help make long-term care more affordable for many Wisconsin seniors and will help them avoid going into a nursing home if they don’t want to,” Doyle said in a prepared statement.