Family Voices Indiana

Preparing for the 2017 legislative session The Indiana General Assembly is preparing for the 2017 legislative session that will begin on January 3 and must end no later than April 29.  This session is a "long session" where lawmakers will decide the state's next two-year budget which is typically about $30 billion.  Legislators will make tough funding decisions on state government services, including education, infrastructure and public safety. Links to help you follow are below:  Indiana General AssemblySenate Committee Chairs and House Committee ChairsStanding Committee RostersSenate Committee Calendar

From Young Invincibles:
News reports are sounding the alarm on the devastating consequences of repealing the Affordable Care Act, but Republicans in Congress have yet to tell the public what their plan is to improve health care.
Join us in telling Congressional leaders that they have a responsibility to put forward a plan to #ProtectOurCare, because health care should be about the public's well-being, not politics.

Each day in America. . .
865 babies are born at low birthweight,  1,241 babies are born without health insurance,
1,392 babies are born into extreme poverty,
159 babies are born who will be diagnosed with autism,
Every 4 1/2 minutes a baby is born with a birth defect,
1 in 3 babies born will develop diabetes sometime in their lifetime,
Families of 1,389,547 children will spend an average of 2 hours providing needed care for their child, and
1,365,209 children have health care providers who only sometimes or never listen to their families.
ONE IN FIVE children has a special health care need.


As the Family to Family Health Information Center for Indiana, we help families like these every day. Family Voices Indiana is a family-led organization that provides information, education, training, outreach, and peer support to families of children and youth with special health care needs and the professionals who serve them. 

If you or someone you know needs assistance with health care financing for a chi…

The Indiana Health Coverage Programs (IHCP) currently allows physicians, including doctors of medicine and doctors of osteopathy, to order physical and occupational therapy services for IHCP members. 
For reimbursement consideration, the ordering physician must be enrolled in the IHCP, and the order must be made in writing. Effective February 1, 2017, the IHCP is expanding the provider types that may order physical and occupational therapy services for IHCP members. 

In addition to physicians, the following provider types may order the therapy services indicated: 

 Physical therapy services:  Chiropractor  Dentist  Nurse practitioner  Physician assistant  Podiatrist  Psychologist  

Occupational therapy services:  Chiropractor  Nurse practitioner  Optometrist  Physician assistant  Podiatrist  Psychologist 

As with physicians, for reimbursement consideration, the ordering provider must be enrolled in the IHCP, and the order must be made in writing. This policy change applies to…

The Indiana Health Coverage Programs (IHCP) announced in IHCP Bulletin BT201629 that advanced practice nurses (APNs) serving as primary medical providers (PMPs) would be limited to a panel size of 500 members. In addition, past IHCP guidance has limited physician panel sizes to 2,500 members. 

Effective January 1, 2017, the IHCP will no longer limit the size of member panels for APN or physician PMPs. All IHCPenrolled providers serving as PMPs will be responsible for maintaining an appropriate panel size that allows for adequate care to the members assigned to the panel. 

Providers enrolled with a managed care entity (MCE) are encouraged to contact the MCE for additional information and to confirm the terms of their agreement with respect to panel size. The MCE may impose panel size limits to ensure quality of care.

There is no black and white process for obtaining Medicaid with the waiver, each case is handled differently.  We suggest you work with your BDDS contact or case manager to make sure that your case is handled correctly. However, here is general information on what to expect from the Medicaid process once targeted for the waiver.
If you already have Medicaid at the time of targeting, they should change your category to Traditional, if eligible.
Question: Why do I get a letter asking me to choose a managed care plan for Medicaid when I have the waiver? Shouldn’t I be on Traditional Medicaid without a managed care plan?
Response from State: Any client that is receiving Medicare will not be assigned, or asked to choose, a Managed Care Entity (MCE).  The members that are not receiving Medicare are referred to Hoosier Care Connect and must select an MCE.  The letters sent, requesting clients to select an MCE, are sent from Hoosier Care Connect and not the state.  This is all determined by DFR d…

Youth Mental Health First Aid
This training is designed to teach youth-serving professionals and caring citizens how to help an adolescent who is experiencing a mental health or addiction challenge or who is in crisis. The course introduces common mental health challenges, reviews adolescent development and teaches a five-step action plan for helping young people in both crisis and non-crisis situations. Additional information and registration opportunities will be provided here shortly. 
Check back at our (McCoy) website to find upcoming trainings as they are scheduled. Click here to view the calendar.

Miss our Twitter Chat about Care Coordination? You're in luck! See the transcript below:


[View the story "Care Coordination Twitter Chat" on Storify]

from NDNRC:
The Kaiser Family Foundation released a new issue brief this week which highlights the number of people who have pre-existing conditions and would be uninsurable if the ACA is repealed. Check out our news item for the total number of people who would be uninsurable under the law as it stood pre-ACA and for a list of those states which would be affected the most. Our news story also has a link to download a copy of the brief and can be found here. Kaiser’s CEO also wrote an op-ed which examines the issue of pre-existing conditions and how they would be dealt with under some of the Republican proposals. To read that article, click here.
This week, HHS released a breakdown of how the Affordable Care Act has had an impact on a state-by-state basis in all areas of coverage, including employer-based coverage, the individual market, Medicare and Medicaid. To read more about this report or for links to the HHS press release and report, check out our news item by clicking here.
HHS Se…