Welcome all, to CDRC’s newsletter for April ‘07. Springtime has finally arrived. The 2007 legislative session ends on April 9th. Those 90 days sure go fast. In this edition we will update you with all of the legislation CDRC has been following. We’ll also be discussing other important issues as well.
Legislation
HB 970 - The first piece
of legislation that CDRC and its members have been following is,
HB 970 - Rosewood Transition Plan, This legislation has been renamed the Rosewood
Center - Plan for Residents - the bill had it’s crossover hearing on April
3 in the Senate Finance Committee. There have been amendments (changes) added to the bill, which
calls for the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) to develop a plan
by the end of this year. The plan
must be develop a way to a) serve each Rosewood Resident in the most integrated
setting with a timeline of transitioning, (b) recommend for each resident:
services in the most integrated settings appropriate for the resident;
the cost of providing those services and settings; and a timetable for making
the transition (c) include recommendations for permanent State employees working
at the Rosewood Center, including: other employment opportunities with the
State, and (d) discuss other uses for the Rosewood property. The bill has passed
out of the House and passed out of committee in the Senate. Next it goes for a
vote before the full Senate.
SB 302/HB 325 - Money Follows the Individual - Both bills have passed with amendments. This bill requires the Department to write a report that discusses 1) An update on communications between the Department and CMS, (the federal government), related to the federal Money Follows the Person Demonstration (MFPD) 2) Information on funding received from CMS under MFPD and 3) The number of individuals moved out of institutional settings under MFPD.
HB 1359 - Respite Care in State Residential Centers - Sunset Repeal was passed in the House. Its Senate Companion Bill (SB 920) has not been voted out of the Senate Finance Committee yet. There will be an amendment to HB 1359 that would impose a 3-year sunset on the bill, rather than making expansion of respite care in institutional settings permanent.
HB 1060 – Medicaid Transparency Act – This bill, introduced by new Montgomery County Delegate Heather Mizeur, was intended to require DHMH to bring proposed state plan amendments (SPAs) and other things that would make BIG changes to the Medicaid program to the legislature before the changes were made. CDRC supported this bill because the state has a lot of opportunity to make major changes to Medicaid without notifying the federal government now that the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) is in effect. DHMH opposed this bill saying it would be burdensome and possibly cause them to miss opportunities to receive grants from the Federal government. There were a lot of negotiations between DHMH and Delegate Mizeur. However, this bill seems to have died in committee.
HB 1371/SB 968 - Quality
and Stability in the Personal Care Workforce Act –
This bill was introduced at the request of the labor union
AFSCME. The bill would make it possible for care givers who work under the
Medicaid Personal Care (MAPC) program and the Older Adults Waiver (OAW) to join
the union who would then represent them in negotiations with the state over
better pay, health care, other benefits, etc. Many CDRC members and friends of
CDRC who participate in these programs have care givers that they feel should
receive these things (better pay, sick leave, health care etc.). CDRC worked
with AFSCME on the bill but did not have enough time to finish it and the bill
died in committee. We will start earlier next time and see that we get a good
bill in next session!
SB
944 Health Insurance – Habilitation Services – Covered Persons
Requiring insurers, nonprofit health service plans, and health maintenance organizations to cover habilitative services for individuals regardless of age. Habilitation services consist of Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Speech Therapy. The bill sponsors are, Senator Madaleno, Forehand, Lenett, and Raskin. Kenny interned for Senator Madaleno, so he put a panel of experts to testify on the bill. This bill has not yet been voted out of committee.
Community Choice
We have been talking about the states CommunityChoice Medicaid waiver proposal for quite a while. Over two years in fact. CommunityChoice is a new way to operate the Medicaid program for some people that DHMH was interested in trying. CDRC has been telling DHMH and others that we did not support the proposal for many reasons. Last month new DHMH Secretary informed everyone that the state would no longer be pursuing CommunityChoice because there were some concerns from the federal government over the proposal. We are relieved that CommunityChoice is now gone. But, now we need to wait and see what the state will want to do instead. Whatever it is, CDRC members will be at the table during discussions. Stay tuned on this matter.
Right To Be
Informed Implementation
CDRC met with Diane Bolger of DDA, who is newly assigned to Right To Be Informed (RTBI), to start work to get it underway. We feel the first two meetings have gone well. There seems to have been more going on for RTBI than we were aware of. We are expecting information on this from DDA and hope to be able to give you an update at our next membership meeting and in our next newsletter.
Money Follows
the Person –
In January, Maryland received word from the federal government that it had been approved for something called Money Follows the Person Demonstration (MFPD). This is a rebalancing initiative. Which means, the feds are giving Maryland $$$ over the next five years to help them deinstitutionalize people from Institutions, Nursing Facilities, etc. and so rebalance the amount of money spent on institutional care vs. community care. Maryland is one of only seventeen state in the country to have this opportunity. Meetings began in March to figure out how the state wants to carry out MFPD. CDRC members will be participating. We’ll keep you posted.
Events
Just a reminder that the World of Possibilities Disability Expo will be held Friday May 18th – Sunday May 20th. CDRC, & ADAPT will have tables there. There will be lots of great information and useful things there. The Expo will again be held at the Timonium Fairgrounds in Timonium, Md.
Another important event that is coming up in May is The Arc of Maryland/People On the Go of Maryland convention. The date for the convention is May 18th and 19th. This year’s convention will be held in Solomon’s Island, Md. at the Holiday Inn Select, Solomon’s. You can register on-line at www.thearcmd.org. A registration form is also enclosed.
Website:
Kenny will be updating CDRC’s web site with new Freedom
Stories that we got from the Rosewood Reunion Party, and more newspaper articles
pertaining to Rosewood, plus MORE, www.thecdrc.org
Job
Opening:
CDRC is hiring a new assistant. John and Kenny are looking for someone to help with phone calls for meetings, trainings, events, all sorts of things. Applicant must have good phone skills and access to the internet. If you are interested, please see information included in this newsletter or onour homepage and contact John or Kenny. 410-571-9320 (Annapolis), 410-974-6139 (Baltimore), 1-888-272-3449 (Toll free), john@thecdrc.org, kenny@thecdrc.org.
Our
next CDRC membership meeting will be: