We OPPOSE Medicaid changing the Assessment Form used, and therefore the requirements, for Idaho’s children that need and deserve to be in 24-hour PCS HOMES! 

 

Medicaid needs to pay reasonable rates to providers that provide this high level of care in their homes for a fraction of the cost of more expensive and restrictive environments. PCS homes are the most affordable option for the children that are served – both to taxpayers financially and to the children emotionally. 

 

We request Medicaid implement a fair Assessment Tool that adequately represents, details, and addresses the requirements these children require while in 24-hour PCS homes!

 

There is NO other places for these children! 

 

Idaho Medicaid is proposing a new “Assessment Tool” for the more than 200 Idaho children with severe developmental disabilities that receive 24-hour, 7 day a week skilled, professional and loving care in private homes that would otherwise be in cold, impersonal institutions and group homes. 

 

This new “Assessment Tool” will not only assess OUT many of the currently eligible children, it will make it so providers can no longer afford to offer the services because the reimbursement will be drastically reduced. No providers = no care available which will cost the State, (even if they could or had spots for these children in other environments – which they do not), 2-3 times that amount of what the providers currently receive – which is $77.50/day. 

 

A preliminary impact taken from a portion of the 200+ providers shows that the average loss will be over HALF the current reimbursement rates making the average provider receiving $38.00 a day for 24-hour, 7 day a week care of children that have intense needs, supervision, and cueing requirements. Considering that a daycare facility that provides only daytime care , receives $20-$30 a day for healthy children – $38 is completely unreasonable when the level of care and how many hours are required is considered. The changes simply make no sense on any level, and the effects will be devastating for the children currently in care as well as an already overtaxed foster care system. 

 

The fact is - these are children that have exhausted either biological homes, often times multiple foster home placements, or even come out of institutional care and group homes. The fact is - the State does NOT have foster homes to absorb the children that will be left with no where to go if these changes happen.  

 

24-hour PCS homes save money, they provide a quality of life that cannot be had in any other type of environment. We are concerned citizens of this State and we implore those in authority to see the impact these changes will have, the devastating ripple effects not only to the overall cost financially, but also emotionally for this already fragile group of children. 

 

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