Family Voices Indiana

UPDATE (July 31, 2019):  The House and Senate have both passed a bill to fund Family-to-Family Health Information Centers (F2Fs) for FIVE more years – through FY 2024 – at the current funding level of $6 million per year!  The legislation also makes permanent the provision that requires the establishment of F2Fs for territories and tribes.  Within the next few weeks, the president is expected to sign the bill into law. The F2F provision was included in a bill, the Sustaining Excellence in Medicaid Act of 2019  (formerly the Empowering Beneficiaries, Ensuring Access, and Strengthening Accountability Act of 2019) (H.R. 3253), that extends several programs, including the Money-Follows-the-Person demonstration program, and the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic demonstration program. The extension of this funding for five years will help F2Fs more effectively and efficiently plan ahead, retain experienced staff, and expand partnerships in the community. We are very grateful for …

Dentists: The ADA needs your feedback The ADA Health Policy Institute, in collaboration with the Oral Health Workforce Research Center, is conducting a survey to learn more about the experience of general and pediatric dentists in serving patients with special health care needs.  Could you take a few minutes today to help us? Please click the button below to begin: Take the Survey Your name will not be associated with your answers in any datasets or reports. Results from this survey will be published in aggregate form only. If you have questions about the survey, please contact the Oral Health Workforce Research Center staff at (518)402-0205 or info@oralhealthworkforce.org. You may reach Health Policy Institute staff at 312.440.2568 or hpi@ada.org.

Whose Future Is It Anyway? 2nd Edition A STUDENT-DIRECTED TRANSITION PLANNING PROCESS Whose Future Is It Anyway? helps prepare students for their IEP meetings and gain self-determination skills through six sections that contain 36 lesson sessions. This lesson package comes with a Coach's Guide (PDF) that outlines the lessons, how to teach them, the roles of the students and teachers, as well as expected outcomes. Section 1: Getting to know you Session 1: The planning meeting Session 2: Choosing people to attend Session 3: Your preferences & interests Session 4: Disabilities Session 5: Your unique learning needs Session 6: Supports Section 2: Making Decisions Session 7: Introduction to DO IT! Session 8: Steps 1 & 2 of DO IT! Session 9: Steps 3 & 4 of DO IT! Session 10: Using DO IT! Session 11: Real life stories to use DO IT! Session 12: Giving informed consent Section 3: How to Get What You Need Session 13: Community resources in your plan Session 14: Community resourc…

To: FSSA Home and Community-Based Services stakeholders
From: FSSA Office of Medicaid Policy and Planning
Re: Public Comment period for DMHA residential settings that require heightened scrutiny
Date: July 24, 2019

The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration is seeking public input for its Division of Mental Health and Addiction’s submission of a Home and Community-Based Services waiver setting requiring heightened scrutiny. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services adopted new federal regulations, known as HCBS Final Rules, which address home and community-based setting requirements for Medicaid HCBS waivers. CMS has defined settings presumed not to be home and community-based and will need to undergo heightened scrutiny as part of the HCBS Final Rules.

For settings presumed not to be home and community-based, states must present evidence of their home and community-based characteristics to CMS to determine if the setting has the qualities of a home and community-based…

Myths about Work and Medicare or Medicaid You may have heard this myth: "If I try to go to work, I will automatically lose my Medicare and/or Medicaid." Here are the facts if you or someone you know is interested in working while receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits: If you earn enough that your SSDI payments stop, you can still continue to receive Medicare for more than 7 years (at least 93 months) after you use your 9-month Trial Work Period. If you currently receive Medicaid and SSI, you could be eligible to continue to receive Medicaid even after you stop receiving SSI benefits due to work.To be eligible you need to meet certain requirements, which include earnings below a threshold amount set by your state.Even if your earnings exceed your state's threshold, you may still be eligible and should talk to Social Security if you have high Medicaid costs. In some states, you may be able to apply to buy Medica…

Our newest video is available.....we hope you find it helpful.

July 25, 2019   from IRCA:
A personal note from
Dr. Cathy Pratt, BCBA-D, Director, Indiana Resource Center for Autism:

"Anticipating the beginning of the school year can create anxiety for both family members and for their sons/daughters on the autism spectrum. Concerns surround whether your son/daughter will be successful in school, and if the new staff will have a solid understanding of autism spectrum disorders and of your son/daughter. In this newsletter is information that we hope will help in this process."

For Parents: 
Preparing for the School Year

Contributed by:
Dr. Cathy Pratt, BCBA-D
Director, Indiana Resource Center for Autism

Anticipating the beginning of the school year can create anxiety for both family members and for their sons/daughters on the autism spectrum. Concerns surround whether your son/daughter will be successful in school, and if the new staff will have a solid understanding of autism spectrum disorders and of your son/daughter. At times, you may kno…