Family Voices Indiana

Family Voices Indiana shares the following announcement from DDRS:

To: State Line and OBRA service providers From: Jeanette Siener, Facility Based Services Director, Bureau of Developmental Disabilities Services Re: OBRA and State Line Services update Date: June 1, 2012
The Bureau of Developmental Disabilities Services (BDDS) has updated its Service Definitions Manual  for State Line services and is available on the Division of Disabilities and Rehabilitative Services  (DDRS) website under DDRS Manuals.  These changes and revised rates of reimbursement will be  effective July 1, 2012. The revised rates of reimbursement reflect Medicaid waiver services rates.  
 The entire announcement, affecting primarily state line funding, in embedded below:
OBRA and State Line Services

Family Voices Indiana shares the following opportunity to share your voice:
The draft disorders and disorder criteria proposed by the DSM-5 Work Groups for new and existing mental disorders can be found on these pages.  You will notice that the diagnostic chapters listed below are no longer organized according to DSM-IV. Instead, we have restructured the diagnostic chapters in DSM-5 to better reflect advances in our scientific understanding of psychiatric disorders, as well as to make diagnosis easier and more feasible for clinicians. You can read more about the proposed chapter structure by clicking here.
Proposed Draft Revisions to DSM Disorders and Criteria Comment Deadline: June 15, 2012
The comment period has opened for the proposed changes to the diagnostic and statistical manual (DSM) of the American Psychiatric Association. These revisions include the often-discussed revisions to criteria for diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorders, among other things. Comments related to specific…

Family Voices Indiana shares this press release from National Family Voices. It is important for us to share our voice in support of families in Illinois, and to ensure our own  children continue to receive the supports they need here in Indiana in the future: Springfield, Illinois, May 30  Less than one week after Katie Beckett was buried, the state legislature in Illinois will vote on legislation that could gut Illinois’ version of the Medicaid provision known as the “Katie Beckett Waiver.” In Illinois this is called the Medically Fragile and Technology Dependent Children’s Waiver Program (MFTW – sometimes called the MFTD), which allows children to receive specialized nursing care at home instead of in an ICU or institution. In 1981 at the age of three and a half, Katie Beckett made history when President Ronald Reagan allowed Katie to go home from the hospital in Iowa where she had lived since the age of six months on a ventilator. Reagan explained the child was being kept in the h…

INDIANAPOLIS—Hoosiers who suffer traumatic injuries are now more likely to be treated at verified trauma centers immediately following an injury, thanks to the adoption of the Triage and Transport Rule by the state’s Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Commission. The rule aims to better provide critical quality care during the first 60 minutes following a traumatic injury, known as the “golden hour” of care in emergency medicine."In our efforts to create a statewide trauma system, this rule is foundational,” said State Health Commissioner Gregory Larkin, MD.  “It should mean more severely injured patients will be taken directly to trauma centers, and it should also mean more hospitals will become trauma centers."  The rule advises that once EMS personnel have assessed the condition of each patient at the scene of an incident, they should then determine if the patient falls into the most severe categories of trauma injury as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevent…

Family Voices Indiana shares the following notes from the DD/Autism webinar with Shane Spotts. The webinar was recorded and will be available for viewing soon. We will share that info when it becomes available. DDRS also plans to have a Q&A opportunity for families to ask questions and get answers
Proposal to combine DD and Autism waiver into a Community Integration and Habilitation Waiver:
Family Support Waiver will be new point of entry (no longer need to be on waiting list in future)for  the DD waiver system in Indiana
Families have told DDRS that if they have a little bit of support, that would be helpful, so new waiver system hopes to provide that
Many people are on both waiver waiting lists (DD and Autism) . 15-20% of individuals on DD and SS waiver have an autism diagnosis
Combining these waivers should not have a negative effect on the autism community
Will have positive impact on administrative costs for further cost savings allowing money to go to individuals instead of…