DHS Announces Approximate Timeline 

for NE Wisconsin Family Care Expansion

Early 2015 is the 'Stretch Goal' for Enrollment

 

As reported previously in the Weekly LTC Update on April 21, 2014, Gov. Scott Walker announced the expansion of Family Care in Northeast Wisconsin. The expansion includes the counties of Brown, Door, Kewaunee, Marinette, Menominee, Oconto and Shawano.

 

On Wednesday this week at a conference in Green Bay, Brian Shoup, administrator of the Department of Health Services (DHS) Division of Long-Term Care, provided a tentative timeline for the expansion. DHS hopes to:

• In 4-6 weeks (late May or early June) publish a Request for Proposals (RFP) to interested entities to serve as the Family Care Managed Care Organization (MCO) in those counties.
• The RFP time period to respond would be approximately 2 months, then the process of selection would begin.
• After an entity has been selected, a draft contract would be created and submitted to the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee for approval.
• This proposed timeline could change, but the department's "stretch goal" is to begin enrollment in early 2015, before the end of the first quarter of the calendar year.

 

 

RFW Executive Director Announces Intent to Resign

 

C. Thomas Cook, executive director of Rehabilitation for Wisconsin (RFW), announced this week at the organization's 2014 Rehabilitation and Transition Conference in Green Bay his intent to resign his position. Mr. Cook will be leaving RFW to take a similar position in Delaware. Mr. Cook is expected to start in his new position in July.

 

RFW "represents the interests of community rehabilitation programs and related organizations that provide care management, center-based and supported employment, day habilitation, early intervention, job training and placement, residential and other services that enable people with disabilities and economic disadvantages to live and work in their local communities."

 

The Association leadership and the editors of the Weekly LTC Update would like to express our appreciation of his advocacy efforts in Wisconsin's long-term care system and extend our best wishes in his new endeavor.

 

 

 

140,000 State Residents Enroll Under Health Exchanges

 

About 140,000 Wisconsin residents have signed up for health insurance under the federal health exchanges, according to a new report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The deadline to enroll for most residents was April 1.

 

Of those who have enrolled in Wisconsin, 35,742 (or about 26 percent) were between the ages of 18 and 34 - the younger (and typically healthiest) demographic that the federal government needed to have enroll to make the federal health exchanges financially viable. This compares to 28 percent nationally for enrollment by this demographic.

 

Nationwide, enrollment in the health insurance marketplace now stands at just over 8 million.

 

Click here to read the Wisconsin report.

Click here to read national enrollment statistics.

  

  

 

State Launches Wisconsin Primary Care 

and Psychiatry Shortage Grant Program

 

The Wisconsin Higher Educational Aids Board (HEAB) this week released the application for the new Wisconsin Primary Care and Psychiatry Shortage Grant program. This new program will provide grants to eligible primary-care providers in the fields of medicine and psychiatry intended to help these providers repay loans taken out during their medical-school educations. The creation of this grant program was one of the recommendations of the State Assembly Speaker's Task Force on Mental Health. It was introduced as state legislation in 2013 and passed in the state Legislature this winter.

 

The program is open to practitioners who will be practicing primary-care medicine or psychiatry in a medically underserved area within the state of Wisconsin, as defined and listed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Health Resources and Services.

 

The program is limited to practitioners who file with HEAB a Notice of Intent prior to accepting employment. 

 

Click here for more information or to view Notice of Intent application.

 

 

 

State Residents Bring 25 Tons to Drug Take-Back Event

 

Wisconsin residents dropped off 25 tons (50,485 pounds) of unwanted, expired or unused prescription drugs during last Saturday's National Prescription Drug "Take-Back" Day. According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which coordinates the biannual "Take-Back" events nationwide, Wisconsin ranked third in the nation in the total amount collected, trailing only the much larger states of California and Texas.

 

According to the Wisconsin Department of Justice, 200 collection sites throughout the state took part in the collection on Saturday.

 

"The pharmaceutical industry is one of the most highly regulated industries, yet prescription drug abuse continues to be a significant problem. When pharmaceutical controlled substances are dispensed, it's crucial that the drugs are used only as the patient's physician prescribed and intended," said Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge James F. Bohn, who is responsible for DEA's operations in Wisconsin. "The National Prescription Take-Back Initiative is an excellent way to reduce the potential for misuse by providing a safe and secure method for people to clean out their medicine cabinets and properly dispose of unused medication," he added.

 

In addition to preventing misuse of these drugs, the drug take-back event helps prevent surface and groundwater contamination from disposal via flushing or landfilling. 

 

 

 

Judge Rejects Voter ID Law

 

A federal judge on Tuesday struck down a Wisconsin law passed in May 2011 requiring a photo ID to vote. The judge's ruling found that the voter ID requirement places an unjustified burden on the right to vote and violates the federal Voting Rights Act.

 

Republicans who supported passage of the law said the measure will deter voter fraud, but the judge from the U.S. District Court Eastern District of Wisconsin said that evidence at the trial established that virtually no voter impersonation occurs in Wisconsin. "The defendants (Gov. Scott Walker and the state of Wisconsin) could not point to a single instance of known voter impersonation occurring in Wisconsin at any time in the recent past," the decision by Judge Lynn Adelman reads. The decision also states that the law creates a unique barrier to vote for those who otherwise do not possess a photo ID. The judge found that, based on testimony of the plaintiff's expert, approximately 300,000 registered voters in Wisconsin (about 9%) lack a qualifying ID - many of whom are black and Latino low-income individuals who might not be able to afford the fees associated with obtaining a birth certificate and photo ID.

 

Gov. Scott Walker had indicated earlier this year that he might call a special session of the Legislature this spring to revise the state's voter ID law if it failed to survive the legal challenge. He did not say on Thursday whether that would in fact happen - Republicans leaders on Thursday were still studying the judge's ruling. Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said Thursday that they will appeal the decision. Meanwhile, Democrats praised the ruling for protecting the freedom to vote.

 

 

 

State GOP Convention Coming This Weekend

 

The Republican Party of Wisconsin convention will be held this weekend at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee. The event opens today with a leadership seminar and runs through Sunday. Other events being held during the annual convention include a Wisconsin media panel, a VIP reception and a banquet honoring county chairmen, among other events.

 

 

This email is brought to members of the Residential Services Association of Wisconsin by Forbes McIntosh at Government Policy Solutions in Madison, Wis. 

 

Editor

Ann Gryphan