Members of medically complex individuals affected by the drastic change to Indiana’s Family and Social Services Administration’s (FSSA) waivers including the Aged and Disabled Waiver met with Governor Eric Holcomb and FSSA leadership today.
Leadership from Indiana United Families for Care discussed concerns regarding Indiana’s upcoming transition from Attendant Care for legally responsible individuals (LRIs) to Structured Family Caregiving (SFC).
Changes include asking FSAA to:
1. Cease holding Notice of Action (NOA) approvals hostage for other waiver services as a way to force Attendant care hours down prior to July 1. For ex: home modifications, specialized equipment and generators;
2. Provide families with the evaluation tool that FSSA has instructed case managers (CMs) to use when evaluating for SFC tiers. In the case this tool has not been released, provide a date when that is expected and does the recommended tool consider the medical complexity of the patient outside of just the activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (AIDL) factors;
3. Appoint a designated Ombudsman to assist with ATTC/SFC related transition issues and have said Ombudsman’s contact information posted publicly on the Medicaid Strategies webpage;
4. Embargo the requirement for personal assistance (PA) hours until July 1, 2024 due to lack of communication and notification BY FSSA to members, CM’s and providers to allow for all parties to work through the process of getting these in place. Home Care Agencies are informing us that this is a six to ten week process to get these written, approved and staffed.
5. Implement a 90-day delay on implementation in order to provide clarity to families, CMs and SFC providers concerning the SFC evaluation process, final approval for the more than 300 new SFC provider applicants and allow families the time to interview agencies for appropriateness.
6. Post an FAQ with responses based on the questions that families ask on interactive webinars to be accessible on the Medicaid Strategies webpage when waiver services are denied, proper written notification be provided for families within five business days of notifying the case manager.
7. To, when waiver services are denied, proper written notification be provided for families within five business days of notifying the case manager.
8. Publicly post the version of the Health and Wellness, Traumatic Brain Injury, and Pathways waivers that were submitted to CMS for approval.
9. Allow respite nursing service for families choosing SFC that FSSA reconsider allowing access to ATTC with an appropriate evaluation tool, guidelines, guardrails, and a limit on LRI provided hours.\
You can hear the families in the Leon-Tailored Audio above.
It runs for about 15 minutes.
