Developmental/Intellectual Disabilities

CHCS senior program officer, Diana Crumley, JD, MPAff, has helped state Medicaid agencies, health plans, and community-based organizations think through issues regarding health-related social needs and social care integration over the last four years. This blog post outlines four lessons from her experience supporting health care stakeholders address health-related social needs and health inequities, while focusing on advanced primary care and Medicaid managed care.

States received approval for temporary changes to their HCBS programs from CMS, within the Department of Health and Human Services to enable states to limit in-person contact to reduce the spread of COVID-19. This GAO report describes the temporary changes to Medicaid HCBS programs and examines CMS’s monitoring and evaluation of the effects of those changes.

On Monday, August 30th, CMS released two State Health Official (SHO) letters and a PowerPoint document that provide guidance regarding a variety of issues, including increases to state FMAP for several activities, opportunities to improve vaccine uptake among providers and beneficiaries, and habilitation services for children with disabilities.

In May 2021, CMS released a final rule regarding vaccination education, access, and reporting for residents and staff of nursing and care facilities for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Recently, CMS sent detailed implementation guidelines to the state agencies responsible for overseeing ICFs/IID. This memo details the responsibilities of ICFS/IID within the new guidelines.

ACL has awarded the 2021 National CDSME Resource Center to the National Council on Aging (NCOA), Inc. The National CDSME Resource Center will provide technical assistance, education, and resources for the national CDSME network to increase the number of older adults and adults with disabilities who participate in evidence-based CDSME and self-management support programs.

The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program provides financial support to low income individuals, including children, adults with severe disabilities, and adults ages 65 and older. This brief describes the SSI program and the demographic and economic characteristics of SSI beneficiaries. Additionally, it discusses state programs that supplement federal SSI, reasons some eligible people do not participate in SSI, and some current changes to the program.

The CDC has provided a new COVID-19 resource on their website for people with intellectual and development disabilities. This resource was developed by the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD) to provide individuals with low literacy and their caregivers information on how to stay safe during the pandemic. The virtual resource explains vaccinations, COVID-19 testing, handwashing, mask-wearing and social distancing through videos and visual storytelling.

This guide synthesizes the findings of a series of NGA Center for Best Practices action labs focused on state policies to increase disability employment. During the labs, state teams developed plans to better coordinate services to support workers with disabilities. This resulting document provides best practices on state policies and actions to improve employment opportunities and outcomes for people with disabilities.

This blog post by Edmondo J. Robinson, M.D., M.B.A., Peter J. Embí, M.D., M.S., Ramanathan Raju, M.D., M.B.A., and Yanling Yu, Ph.D. explores how social determinants of health have led to health inequity during the pandemic. Read the blog post to learn how health literacy and access to technology play a role in bridging the gap in health outcomes.

This issue brief presents early findings from the most recent KFF 50-state survey of Medicaid HCBS programs, focusing on state policies adopted in response to the pandemic, the pandemic’s impact on Medicaid HCBS enrollees and providers, and states’ early plans for the new American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) 10 percentage point temporary increase in federal Medicaid matching funds for HCBS.