Family Voices Indiana

Family Voices Indiana is excited to share with our members the latest opportunity to share your voice in the Article 7 (Indiana Special Education Code) revision process. We urge our members to visit differ from the proposed rules that were voted on by the Special Education Advisory Council. Family Voices urges all or our members share their comments on the proposed rules using both the online comment feature by attending and speaking at the public hearing nearest you : ALL HEARINGS WILL TAKE PLACE FROM 5:30 P.M. TO 8:00 P.M. April 15, 2008 - Evansville Southern Indiana Career and Technical Center Assembly Hall 1901 Lynch Road Evansville, IN 47711 April 16, 2008 – New Albany New Albany Educational Support Center 2801 Grant Line Road New Albany, IN 47150 April 22, 2008 – Merrillville Merrillville High School Arena 276 East 68th Street Merrillville, IN 46410 April 23, 2008 – South Bend South Bend Administration Building 215 South Saint Joseph South Bend, IN

FSSA ENCOURAGES INDIVIDUALS TO APPLY Today, the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration's (FSSA) Division of Disability and Rehabilitative Services (DDRS) issued a public reminder of several Priority Criteria that allows individuals with disabilities to bypass the waiting list and make application for an Indiana Home and Community-Based Medicaid Waiver. Those meeting the criteria should contact their local Bureau of Developmental Disabilities Services (BDDS) as soon as possible to determine eligibility and begin the application process. "We have identified certain life situations that put people with developmental disabilities at immediate risk for institutionalization," said DDRS Director, Peter Bisbecos. "The Priority Criteria enable us to serve these individuals earlier and potentially avert the need for more restrictive, higher cost services in the future." Last year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) approved FSSA's r

Family Voices has been contacted by families having difficulties with Medicaid services. Apparently, current claims are being denied across the state for some individuals. In order to try to address the issue, we'd like to gather more information. First, we need to know what TYPE of Medicaid the individual has: Hoosier Healthwise Traditional Medicaid Home and Community Based Waivers/Medicaid Disability Medicaid Most cards look identical, so you need to look at statements like prior authorizations, claims, or correspondence from a managed care organization like Anthem, Managed Health Services and/or MDWise. The first 2 probably indicate you have Hoosier Healthwise. MDWise has more than one program, so you'll have to investigate this further. We also need to know what's being denied-most are indicating it's therapy services-and if it has been covered in the past. Please send the info to Family Voices at fv.indiana@gmail.com or reply to this email through yahoogroups.