Looking to Provide States Incentive for Providing More Opportunities

A bipartisan group of senators is looking to provide financial incentives to states for helping people with disabilities live and work in the community.The lawmakers want to establish a new Medicaid demonstration program that would offer financial bonuses to states for encouraging community-based outcomes. Under a bill introduced this week, a five-year program would be established in 10 states.

Budget Roundup: Fighting Planned Cuts

The message is coming from so many states that we decided to compile a roundup. First piece addresses New Jersey cut and is by Tom Toronto, president of United Way of Bergen County

We are deeply concerned about the position the state of New Jersey has recently taken with respect to housing opportunities for those with disabilities and special needs.

The state is contemplating a rule change that will limit housing choices for people with developmental disabilities to either four-bedroom group homes or set-aside units that are 25 percent or less of a large multifamily development. Bergen County's United Way believes that people with developmental disabilities have the right to choose from a full array of housing, lifestyle and support-service options.

Charlene Smith-Scott, an employee with The Arc Baltimore, responds to Maryland cuts.

Before Gov. Martin O'Malley left office, he cut funding that my colleagues and I were counting on to stay ahead of minimum wage. Now, Gov. Larry Hogan is doing the same thing with the new budget. People in my profession are not state employees, but we are doing work that is the responsibility of the state. Maryland doesn't seem to take that seriously because we are paid as the lowest of the low among our comparable peers in health care, elder care and the like.

NEWARK, Del. — The conflict among caretakers and community advocates for Delawareans with intellectual and development disabilities came out in full force during a public hearing Monday discussing how taxpayer-funded community housing and work placement funded is offered in the state.The hearing, held at Delaware State Police Troop 2 headquarters in Newark, provided a forum for the community to evaluate Delaware's preliminary transition plan to adapt a new federal rule that changes how subsidized home- and community-based services are funded.

Quality Health Care Trumps Volume

The federal government’s drive to reshape health care in America continues to take shape with the latest shift to value-based payment.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently set a time line for having half of all Medicare payments based on the value of the care provided, not simply the volume of services. While CMS is often the leader in setting quality and value metrics, health plans have also set pay-for-performance metrics for their policy holders, and, most recently, the New York State Department of Health has set value metrics for Medicaid under the Delivery System Reform Incentive program.

Indiana Expands Medicaid and Charges Beneficiaries a Montly Fee

WASHINGTON — After a lengthy back-and-forth, the Obama administration has agreed to let Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana, a Republican, expand Medicaid on his own terms, including some that have not been allowed before under federal rules.

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence

The plan will extend coverage to an additional 350,000 Indiana residents with incomes of up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level — about $16,100 for a single person and $27,310 for a family of three — starting next month. As in the 27 other states that have expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, the federal government will cover the entire cost through this year and at least 90 percent in future years.

5 Pending Medicaid Waivers to Watch in 2013

In the midst of the national push for Medicaid reform, one albatross is often cited by state policymakers for impeding their progress: the federal waiver process. The long and short of it is that it takes too long to get a waiver approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) if a state has an innovative idea to test. There are horror stories about waivers taking more than a year to be approved, even if they’ve been approved in the past and states are just looking to continue their programs. Six former governors (three Democrats and three Republicans) issued a report last year, bemoaning the problems with the waiver process and offering their recommendations for fixing it. CMS officials have acknowledged that it could be streamlined, though no specific improvements have been named or acted upon.