Nebraska

How is Nebraska using its MIG funding to assist individuals with disabilities manage the chronic pain that prevents them from acquiring or maintaining employment? The Nebraska Ticket to Work Palliative Care Program combines palliative care with employment services in an effort to address chronic pain as a barrier to employment. The program takes a cutting-edge approach, which could be employed in any state. A more detailed summary of the program is provided in the newsletter available here.

What do Nebraska’s Medicaid Insurance for Workers with Disabilities (MIWD) clients think about the employment supports offered them through the MIG funded program? In December, 2007 current clients were asked to participate in a telephone survey, which was a follow-up to a more extensive evaluation finalized in April 2007. The methodology, goal and summary of the findings are included here and could be helpful to other states looking to improve the effectiveness of their employment supports.

How is Nebraska using its MIG grant to address the needs of those struggling due to brain injuries? Through a screening tool, and a follow-up questionnaire, the state is working to diagnose these individuals so they may effectively rejoin the workforce. The forms, could serve as a template for other states who wish to do the same, and are available here.

What is The Brain Book™ System? It is one resource Nebraska is making available to its brain injury population, as part of its MIG grant. This System is an educational program that teaches persons with brain injuries how to use a customized life manager/day planner, specially designed to meet their needs - at home and at work. It is a system that is being used all over the country and could be a good resource for other states with similar employment goals for their brain injured citizens.

This compendium is the first of an annual publication of statistics on people with disabilities and government programs that serve this population. It is designed to serve as a reference guide to government publications. The information focuses on state-level statistics published by Federal agencies and presents some time-trend data. A glossary is provided to assist in the interpretation of the statistics.

This presentation by Thomson Medstat was given on a July 25, 2006 TA call with state grantees. The presentation outlines available technical assistance, trends in waiver quality, and the different components to quality management.

A summary from the June 2001 symposium titled, “Independent Choices: A National Symposium on Consumer-Direction and Self-Determination for the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities”. Major themes and outcomes are highlighted based on the dialogue from the various speakers including policymakers, program administrators, consumer advocates, service producers, and researchers.

This brief describes the evolution of beneficiary-managed home and community-based services since the original demonstration and provides an overview of state activity as of January 2006. The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 gives states the option to use this model for an expanded range of home and community based services in their state Medicaid plans without having to obtain a waiver.

This report and tables present Medicaid 1915(c) Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Waiver expenditures data from Federal Fiscal Years 2003 through 2008. Each HCBS waiver is classified by population served in order to show the distribution of expenditures across long-term care populations. This report includes new target population categories to identify waivers that target particular developmental disabilities such as intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorders.

This report presents Medicaid long-term care expenditures data in Federal Fiscal Year 2008 (Oct 2007 - Sept 2008). Table 1 shows national data from 1996 - 2008. Other tables present state-by-state data for nursing homes, ICF/MR, state plan personal care, state plan home health, 1915(c) waivers, 1115 waivers that provide HCBS, and other Medicaid services.