Fw: More on HCBS rules for community from Bazelon Center for MH.................outstanding, including comments on sheltered workshops and segregated day sites.....

[Guest guest]

For those who have the patience to read through the new HCBS rules from the Feds

and make comments (due tomorrow at 5 pm, unfortunately)...this is a worthwhile

education....

Bazelton makes it a little easier...you can also just read their comments and

get the gist...

I also apologize for some of the blurring of the information, but the links

should be fine...

Ellen

Ellen Garber Bronfeld

egskb@...

More on HCBS rules for community from Bazelon Center for

MH.................outstanding, including comments on sheltered workshops and

segregated day sites.....

Hi again,

I am sorry that these are coming out during the final 36 hours, but these

comments from Koyanagi are superb!! She has been at this for folks with

M.I. since the late 1980's and Bazelon is the premiere national advocacy group

for this population. She also knows a lot about dual diagnosis and DD; not

sure, but I presume pretty competent on autism spectrum, etc.

I plan to see her when I am in D.C. next week.

Hope these help and that you have some folks who understand and are willing to

do something.

Thanks and take care.

Allan

Support Proposed Regulations for Medicaid Home- and Community-Based Waivers

June 13, 2011 -- The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law urges you to support

rules proposed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that

would help ensure scarce waiver dollars are used to support services in truly

integrated settings -- not settings that are institutional in nature!

Use the Bazelon Center's comments as a model, or tell CMS that you agree with

our comments. Also, consider telling CMS to include the " qualities of an

institution " list in the regulation -- not in the background; and that there is

no reason to have separate rules for assisted-living facilities.

Submit Comments by Tuesday, June 14, 5 PM EST electronically via

http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions under the " More Search

Options " tab. Include reference code CMS-22296-P. You can find the Notice of

Proposed Rulemaking here.

The Proposed Rules:

a.. Permit states to serve individuals with different types of disabilities in

one waiver.

b.. Define " home and community-based. "

c.. Include requirements for person-centered planning.

d.. Indicate that waiver services must not be provided in " a building that is

also a publicly or privately operated facility that provides inpatient

institutional treatment or custodial care; in a building on the grounds of, or

immediately adjacent to, a public institution; or a housing complex designed

expressly around an individual's diagnosis or disability, as determined by the

Secretary. "

e.. And, among other things, indicate that waiver services must not be

provided in a setting that " has qualities of an institutional setting. " CMS

notes that such qualities may include regimented meal and sleep times,

limitations on visitors, lack of privacy and other attributes that limit

individuals' ability to engage freely in the community.

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