Family Voices Indiana

To: Consumers, providers and stakeholders who support individuals with disabilities From: Peter Bisbecos, Director, Division of Disability and Rehabilitative Services Re: OASIS Rollout Suspension and the Transition to Uniform Rates Date: May 29, 2009 On Friday, March 13, 2009 the Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA) of Indiana and the Division of Disability and Rehabilitative Services (DDRS) suspended the rollout of the Objective Assessment System for Individual Supports (OASIS). This bulletin is a continuation of our ongoing communication plan to provide answers to the most immediate operational questions, including: uniform rates, policies and definitions, and consumers with plans in transition. The release of allocations under OASIS remains under temporary suspension until further notice. The State's current focus is to review allocations to ensure that they will support the health and welfare of every consumer. Information will be released as need

FV Indiana continues to share our members concern about changes to Indiana’s Children’s Special Health Care program. The following update was received from Kathy J. Bowen, Director CSHCS on May 28th: “CSHCS funding for FY 2010 comes from the State Budget and from our portion of Title V funds, which also support Maternal and Child Health Programs. In consideration of the current economic environment and anticipated decreases in funding, CSHCS has made some changes to reduce expenditures. These include reducing payment amounts to be made for family travel and adding an annual payment cap for ABA therapy for treatment of autism. Consideration was also given to reducing the financial threshold for eligibility from 250% of the FPL to 225% FPL, however, we are delaying making any decision until the final budget is received. Thank you for your inquiry. Hopefully, we will have more information in the upcoming month.” Family Voices urges you to continue to share your input on pending

Family Voices Indiana shares our members’ commitment to ensuring Indiana’s systems and services meet the needs of families. To that end, we encourage each of you to share your input on pending changes to the eligibility for Indiana’s Children Special Health Care program. Please share your thoughts via email to the following: Director of Children’s, Kathy Bowen, KBowen@isdh.in.gov Medical Director, Dr. Judith Ganser, Jganser@isdh.in.gov Director of State Department of Health, Dr. Judy Monroe, Jmonroe@isdh.in.gov Your State Representatives. You can find their contact information at: http://www.in.gov/apps/sos/legislator/search/ It is important that these policy makers hear from as many families, providers, friends and others as possible in the next 2 weeks. We encourage you to share your support for this program. A personal email requesting the current eligibility guidelines be maintained at their current levels is very powerful. Talking points to consider in addition to y