Medicaid Infrastructure Grant (MIG)

HCBS.org NewsCLIPS highlights the important work related to Real Choice Systems Change Grantees. In each issue, we examine a topic related to home and community-based care by providing an overview of recent papers and publications. The Summer issues provides an overview of the reports available on the Medicaid Infrastructure Grant (MIG) Program. The goal of the MIG program is to support people with disabilities in securing and sustaining competitive employment in an integrated setting.

Determining local business needs is an integral part of providing effective employment opportunities to the disabled. The District of Colombia used Constant Contact, an online email marketing tool, to survey employers from various sectors in the area. The attached employer survey, results and summary could serve as a template for other states seeking to gauge local employer needs.

How has Utah used it's MIG grant to better serve its disabled population? The Mission of the Division of Services for People with Disabilities (DSPD) is to provide long-term supports and services. This handout summaries the agencies' goals, application requirements, services, eligibility and includes a separate section geared specifically to the blind and visually impaired. Written for potential clients, it can also provide a detailed outline of how any state could structure their own program.

This issue brief uses the most recent comprehensive data, from 2009, to examine the characteristics and costs of dual-eligible beneficiaries. The report also examines the different payment systems that Medicare and Medicaid use to fund care for dual-eligible beneficiaries and recent efforts at the federal and state levels to integrate those payment systems and coordinate the care between both programs. Given the high cost of dual-eligibles, legislative solutions are reviewed.

Few employer-sponsored and private insurance plans offer the range of services that workers with disabilities may need. Medicaid Buy-In programs are a viable option that allows these workers to receive needed services without spending down for Medicaid. This report describes findings from a study of characteristics and service utilization of higher-income enrollees compared to regular Medicaid enrollees. Providing these programs may keep higher-income workers with disabilities employed.

The survey focused only on the Personal Assistant Workforce employed through the Center’s for Independent Living (CIL) Fiscal Intermediary (FI) programs at Disability Action Center Northwest (DACNW), Living Independence Network Corporation (LINC), and Living Independently For Everyone (LIFE). The major focus of this survey was to gather ideas and responses from personal assistants on ways to improve the retention rate in the FI In-home Personal Assistant (PAS) Workforce.