Community Integration
DRC Position Paper on Developmental Disabilities
Disability Rights Center believes that Arkansas still has considerable progress to make in ensuring the rights affirmed to individuals with disabilities in the Olmstead v. L.C. decision.
Read the DRC position paper on developmental disabilities here.
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
- 5/24/2010: Letter from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Director Cindy Mann to State Medicaid Directors on Community Living Initiative describing efforts to implement solutions that address barriers to community living for individuals with disabilities and older Americans.
- 5/20/2010: Community Living Initiative - Olmstead (SMD10008 - pdf)
- 6/22/2009: CMS published an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) as a part of the Community Living Initiative in order to obtain public input on specific changes to the 1915(c) HCBS waiver program related to the combining of target groups within HCBS waivers and to identify hallmarks of settings where HCBS can be provided. CMS plans to publish a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to address the issues raised by the public and to solicit additional input from stakeholders.
- 7/14/2003: Transition of individuals from institutional to community settings (SMD 071403 - pdf)
- 5/09/2002: Independence Plus (SMD 050902b - pdf)
- 5/09/2002: Transitioning Waivers (SMD 050902a - pdf)
- 1/10/2001: Olmstead Update Number 4 (HCFA Update) (SMD 011001b - pdf)
- 1/10/2001: Olmstead Updated Number 5 (New Tools for States) (SMD 011001a - pdf)
- 7/25/2000: Olmstead Update 3 (SMD 072500b - pdf)
- 7/25/2000: Olmstead Update 2 (SMD 072500a - pdf)
- 1/14/2000: The recent Supreme Court Decision in Olmstead v L.C., 119 S. Ct. 2176 (1999) (SMD 011400c - pdf)
- 1/14/2000: We have made great strides for the disabled to participate in communities (SMD 011400a - pdf)
- 7/29/1998: Americans With Disabilities Act (SMD 072998 - pdf)
Health Care
- 5/28/2010: Association Of University Centers On Disabilities publishes "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, New Options For Long-Term Services and Supports".
- May 2010: United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) released its 2010 Case for Inclusion report ranking Medicaid services for intellectual and developmental disability populations in all 50 States and the Distric of Columbia. Arkansas ranks 50th. To read more go to the United Cerebral Palsy website at medicaid.ucp.org, or download the full report, "A Case For Inclusion 2010", at http://medicaid.ucp.org/pdf/Case_For_Inclusion_Report_2010.pdf. You can also download the Medicare document, "The Plan For Inclusion", at http://medicaid.ucp.org/pdf/Plan_for_Inclusion.pdf
- 5/24/2010: The HHS Office of Inspector General ("OIG") recently issued a report on Medicaid Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment entitled Most Medicaid Children in Nine States are not Receiving All Required Preventive Screening Services. The report is available at http://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-05-08-00520.pdf
The nine states selected for review were: Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota, Texas, Vermont, and West Virginia.
Among the findings:
- Three out of four children did not receive all required medical, vision, and hearing screenings. Forty-one percent did not receive any required medical screenings.
- Nearly 60% of children who received EPSDT medical screening lacked at least one component of a complete medical screening. Children were missing appropriate lab tests most often.
- All nine states reported strategies to improve participation in EPSDT and the completeness of EPSDT medical screening. States identified at least one or three main strategies to improve beneficiary participation in EPSDT: direct communication to eligible families, outreach, and incentives.
The HHS OIG recommends that CMS:
- Require state to report vision and hearing screenings. (These reporting cells were removed from the CMS Form 416 EPSDT report about 10 years ago.)
- Collaborate with States and providers to develop effective strategies to encourage beneficiary participation in EPSDT screenings, to develop education and incentives for providers to encourage complete medical screening
- Identify and disseminate promising State practices.
In The News
- 8/15/2010: How a person with a disability in North-West Arkansas has realized his dream of living independantly in the community and owning his own home. [more »]
- 6/22/2010: Last year, on the 10th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision in the case of Olmstead v. L.C., President Obama launched The Year of Community Living. As part of this initiative, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Kathleen Sebelius created the Community Living Initiative to coordinate the efforts of federal agencies and support the Administration's commitment to addressing isolation and discrimination against people with disabilities. Today, HHS awarded a $3.2 million contract to establish a Housing Capacity Building Initiative for Community Living to connect persons with disabilities to affordable housing in their communities. Also today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is issuing a letter to state Medicaid directors about the extension of the Money Follows the Person Demonstration under the Affordable Care Act.
- 6/14/2010: Launched in June 2009, the Community Living Initiative, a collaboration of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), is working to identify ways to improve access to housing, community supports, and independent living arrangements. HHS' Office for Civil Rights is also partnering with the Department of Justice (DOJ) to promote "vigorous enforcement of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Olmstead decision and to maximize the effectiveness of federal leadership in promoting civil rights and setting forth the Administration's position in the federal courts." The success of the Community Living Initiative depends on hearing real life examples of how the system can better serve real people. We welcome and appreciate comments and recommendations sent to community.living@hhs.gov. For more information visit the following resources:
- 5/25/2010: The Justice Department has announced that it has filed briefs in three separate cases in Florida, Illinois and New Jersey as part of its continuing effort to enforce civil rights laws that require states to end discrimination against and unnecessary segregation of persons with disabilities. The department's filings support two private lawsuits seeking relief in Florida and New Jersey, as well as a proposed statewide class action settlement in Illinois. The briefs allege that the three states are failing to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Supreme Court's decision in Olmstead v. L.C. Read the press release »
The Olmstead Decision
Federal Legislation
- 3/23/2010: According to the Director of CMS, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, P.L. 111-148, enacted March 23, 2010, formerly H.R. 3590, provides new opportunities to serve more individuals in home and community -based settings, adding to the available tools for realization of the integration mandate of the ADA, as required by the Olmstead decision. Click on this link and go to section 2401 under Subtitle E to read the Community First Choice Options.
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