Developmental/Intellectual Disabilities

This Technical Assistance Manual was designed for New Hampshire to provide guidance on becoming a Certified Other Qualified Agency and a Medicaid HCBS-ECI Waiver Provider. The seven section report provides an overview of the long-term care service delivery system and the use of consumer-directed personal care services. There are additional suggestions for monitoring performance and marketing a Qualified Agency.

Advances in medicine and technology plus changes in social attitudes have improved employment opportunities for working-age adults with disabilities. Despite progress there are still barriers to employment. The Medicaid Buy-In program is an important component of the federal effort to make it easier for people with disabilities to work without losing health benefits. This report, the third in a series offers a profile of the 28 states with both Buy-In programs and Medicaid Infrastructure Grants.

The New Mexico legislature has passed the \"Money Follows the Person Act\" (MFP) allowing people with disabilities of all ages to choose community living. The passage of MFP dove-tails with federal legislation signed into law by President Bush in the Omnibus Budget bill. The New Mexico legislation will allow a person in a nursing facility to choose community living, and have the money that has supported the person in the facility to follow the person to the community.

This report presents the results of mail surveys of individuals who have had a long-term care needs assessment and of persons who use home care services coordinated through Elder Independence of Maine. The final results provide a useful example of how survey findings can be reported.

Based on a comprehensive review of the relevant literature, this paper examines the impact of asset ownership on meaningful and participatory social inclusion. The paper first, presents an overview of the assets-based perspective of welfare and highlight factors that have shaped this perspective with an overview of rural communities and their relationship to these issues. Next, the paper reviews the potential effects of asset ownership and how this may impact social inclusion in rural areas.

Who are dual eligibles and how do they qualify for Medicaid? This fact sheet describes the over 7.5 million “dual eligibles,” the low-income elderly and persons with disabilities who are enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid, why this population needs Medicaid, what services they receive from Medicaid, and the current policy challenges related to dual eligibles, including the new Medicare prescription drug benefit.

Can agency consolidation bring about consistent policymaking and focus long term care services on persons with disabilities rather than on program providers? This AARP Public Policy Institute Issue Paper provides readers with an examination of a consolidated agency approach, by studying agency structure, reviewing the arguments for consolidation, and the barriers to achieving it. It also reviews several states accomplishing consolidation and a checklist of steps towards such a model.

As part of a 2004 QA/QI grant, New Hampshire developed this procedure that established the required components and reporting expectations by providers regarding sentinel events within the state's E/D waiver. Review the protocol and sample form that support quality assurance activities.

Visit this clearinghouse, training and technical assistance center devoted to moving power and authority over resources directly to individuals with disabilities, families and allies. The website features publications, events, learning opportunities, resources and products including a new guidebook, Guaranteeing the Promise of Freedom. Designed for trainings, this guide addresses individual budget development, ways to re-thinking public dollars, an approach to quality and a budget template.

Quality Councils: A Crucible for Change: Issue 1, Volume 2 takes a look at quality teams at work in four NCI States (Rhode Island, West Virginia, Massachusetts, Alabama). Councils are charged with various tasks: sharing views on data; identifying trends; suggesting additional outcomes and indicators; recommending targets for service improvements; and monitoring progress on targets over time. Please read on for a glimpse into their workings, achievements, and plans for the future.