Medicaid

In this letter, CMS outlines several methods by which states may facilitate the transition of individuals from institutional to community settings through Medicaid coverage of medical equipment (ME) costs. This letter also serves to reiterate the July 25, 2000, State Medicaid Directors’ letter on this issue and to encourage states to explore this opportunity for persons with disabilities.

More states than ever are re-directing Medicaid funds to keep more people out of institutions and living in their own communities and homes, and there are many approaches that states can use to accomplish this, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) said August 17th in a letter to state Medicaid directors. In addition there is a link to the two previously sent State Medicaid Directors letters, which are referenced in the letter.

The Cash & Counseling Demonstration gives Medicaid beneficiaries who are eligible for personal care services a consumer-directed allowance in lieu of traditional agency services. This report discusses the effects of this program on both the medicaid costs and personal care services recieved in Arkansas.

This brief examines four key questions that emerge related to how dual eligibles will fare under the Medicare Part D plans starting in January 2006. Given the potential that the dual eligible population could be adversely affected by the current legislation, it may be prudent to give serious consideration to the issues highlighted in this brief as the new benefit is being implemented.

This document presents examples of presumptive and fast track eligibility programs implemented by several states to reduce the time it takes to process the Medicaid application.

This April 2004 issue brief on Medicaid eligibility policies is the first in a series designed to share with federal and state policy makers as well as other stakeholders the issues and options being considered by NASHP’s Medicaid Resource Center workgroup as they prepare “Making Medicaid Work for the 21st Century”. This brief outlines four key questions to consider when thinking of eligibility issues.

Medicaid beneficiaries who have disabilities and receive personal care services (PCS) from home care agencies have little control over their care. As a result, some are dissatisfied, have unmet needs, and experience diminished quality of life. This study of Arkansas’s Cash and Counseling demonstration program, IndependentChoices, examines how consumer direction affects these aspects of care quality relative to agency-directed services

This report presents several State initiatives that increase Medicaid access for people who are chronically homeless. The report also provides information about people who are chronically homeless and the Medicaid enrollment barriers they face.

This report describes Wyoming’s individual budgets for its Medicaid home and community-based services (HCBS) waivers for people with developmental disabilities and the statistical method used to determine individualized budgets. The report also discusses how the budgets were implemented and their impact thus far.

Families USA has released Medicaid: Good Medicine for State Economies predicting the impact state Medicaid spending will have on business activity, jobs, & wages in 2005. The report argues that extending the $10 billion in fiscal relief provided by Congress to the states last year, through enhanced Federal participation in Medicaid, through the end of fiscal year 2005 would help strengthen state economies by generating even more business activity, jobs,& wages. Includes data for every state.