DHS unveils Family Care reform plan

Pursuing initiatives to keep people in their homes, allowing managed care organizations to compete in additional counties and service areas, and doing more to ensure that Medicaid is the payer of last resort are among the proposals unveiled Monday by the Department of Health Services to reform the state’s long term care system. Secretary Dennis Smith and deputy secretary Kitty Rhoades released their plan at the Wisconsin Council on Long Term Care. Meanwhile, separate legislation to remove the cap on Family Care enrollment would likely be released this week, Rhoades said.

“This has been months and months of work with all of the stakeholders to ensure the sustainability of the program,” she said. “When we bring people in, we have a moral obligation to them that we will be there for the long haul.”

On December 28, Governor Scott Walker announced that DHS had identified $80 million in efficiencies that would allow the administration to lift the enrollment cap on Family Care and expand to 15 new counties. The announcement came two weeks after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services sent a letter ordering the administration to lift the cap. The proposals announced Monday, which are still considered drafts, do not include specific savings targets. Other proposals include:

• Developing and maintaining community employment and living settings for youth that transition from children’s to adult services

• Maximizing self-determination in the IRIS program

• Assisting individuals in understanding the cost of choice in order to make informed choices, and

• Securing additional federal funding to support employment people for people with disabilities.

Read more