|
What's the Latest on the Group Home (5-6 bed) Funding Crisis?
The Good News:
- Leadership is committed to ensuring that people do not lose their homes as of June 30.
- Your advocacy has been effective, and your messages have been heard
- There seems to be total agreement that this must be handled with no interruption of service
What's the Plan?
Just today I spoke with the new Director of the Division of Medical Assistance (DMA) Carol Steckel. She is committed to finding a solution, and it is now in the hands of Jessica Bradley, who is the special counsel in our state for handling issues regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Ms. Bradley has extensive experience with group homes and people living with mental illness. The plan will be complete by early May, and it will be presented to the General Assmbly for approval. It seems clear that the solution will not involve medicaid (the loss of eligibility to pull down personal care medicaid dollars is what caused the funding crisis) but will involve state dollars.
The Blue Ribbon Commission that was appointed last year to look at this problem, and other problems in housing that were noted by the Department of Justice did look at a variety of solutions, and this will probably be a starting point for their plan.
The group home issue is a complex one. It is just one option on an array of housing options. We need better service definitions to ensure that people only stay in a group home as long as they need that level of care. The homes also need to be more the homes of those who live there, not a home where people have little say so. We have great group homes, and not so great group homes: for the people who need them, they should all be great, so we need better monitoring and oversight. We need clarity on ensuring that people can move on, be discharged, once that is indicated in their recovery plan and they are able to be more successful in a less restrictive setting. And we need better utilization of empty beds, with quick access for those in crisis.
Stay in touch with your legislators to make sure that they support legislation that we expect will be forthcoming to make sure that people who need this level of care can be assured that the state has stabilized the funding to they don't lose their housing!
Thank you for making this issue so prominent with our leaders and our legislators through your advocacy: it works!
Deby Dihoff, MA
Executive Director
| 
