By Jennifer LaFleur, ProPublica
We reported in June that thousands of people continue to live in nursing homes and other institutions in spite of a 1999 Supreme Court decision saying people with disabilities should be able to live at home if they want to and are able.
Now, disability activists who have pushed for equal access to community services have scored a big victory in Florida.
The Florida Health Care Administration and the Florida Department of Elder Affairs must spend $27 million to improve access to community-based programs for nursing home residents under a settlement agreement this week.
The agreement is a result of a class-action lawsuit brought against the state in 2008. The case involved 8,500 people with disabilities living in nursing homes who said they were "unnecessarily institutionalized" because Medicaid would not cover services in the community.
According to The Associated Press, a federal court will monitor the arrangement, which requires the improvements to be made during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2010.
In their lawsuit, the defendants said that providing services at home would cost the state less. Florida currently spends more than 80 percent of Medicaid long-term funds for elderly and people with disabilities on institutions, including nursing homes.
The state spends more than $4 billion a year in Medicaid on long-term care.
"This is a positive sign because the amount of the settlement is the kind of amount that will get the attention of policymakers in other states," said Andrew Imparato, president of the American Association of People with Disabilities.
Dozens of similar lawsuits have been filed in other states.
Currently under Medicaid, people who qualify for the level of service provided by a nursing home can get it because that service is mandatory, but programs that fund community services are not automatic.
Some people wait for years to get into state programs that would allow them to have services at home, such as an attendant to help them get out of bed, dress or bathe.
Disability activists also had a win in Washington, D.C., this week. Senate Finance Committee Chair, Sen. Max Baucus, added a provision to healthcare reform legislation (PDF) that would increase states' Medicaid match for providing community services rather than placing people in institutions.
We reported in June that thousands of people continue to live in nursing homes and other institutions in spite of a 1999 Supreme Court decision saying people with disabilities should be able to live at home if they want to and are able.Now, disability activists who have pushed for equal access to community services have scored a big victory in Florida.
The Florida Health Care Administration and the Florida Department of Elder Affairs must spend $27 million to improve access to community-based programs for nursing home residents under a settlement agreement this week.
The agreement is a result of a class-action lawsuit brought against the state in 2008. The case involved 8,500 people with disabilities living in nursing homes who said they were "unnecessarily institutionalized" because Medicaid would not cover services in the community.
According to The Associated Press, a federal court will monitor the arrangement, which requires the improvements to be made during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2010.
In their lawsuit, the defendants said that providing services at home would cost the state less. Florida currently spends more than 80 percent of Medicaid long-term funds for elderly and people with disabilities on institutions, including nursing homes.
The state spends more than $4 billion a year in Medicaid on long-term care.
"This is a positive sign because the amount of the settlement is the kind of amount that will get the attention of policymakers in other states," said Andrew Imparato, president of the American Association of People with Disabilities.
Dozens of similar lawsuits have been filed in other states.
Currently under Medicaid, people who qualify for the level of service provided by a nursing home can get it because that service is mandatory, but programs that fund community services are not automatic.
Some people wait for years to get into state programs that would allow them to have services at home, such as an attendant to help them get out of bed, dress or bathe.
Disability activists also had a win in Washington, D.C., this week. Senate Finance Committee Chair, Sen. Max Baucus, added a provision to healthcare reform legislation (PDF) that would increase states' Medicaid match for providing community services rather than placing people in institutions.
I pulled my severely autistic son from a group home after the supposed "one to one aide" (that never was) left him behind a door to beat himself so badly, he suffered a hematoma to his ear and required emergency surgery. He also left the four year stay at the group home malnurioushed, underweight and had H-Pylori..despite a "nurse" supposedly managing the clients there...what people don't understand is that families seldom choose to place their children, instead, backs against the wall from years of exhaustion rooted in poor in home supports, we are forced to place them..and in worse cases, some state officials actually prefer we place our kids, if they have failed to secure in home supports, so it takes the focus off their failure to fill the gaps that would've allowed us to keep our children home to begin with. Amazingly, even after my son was injured his an out of home placement, the san diego regional center is still trying to push that I place him, even though they say "there is no placement that can handle him." To see our story go to You Tube and search under autism and self injurious behavior or go to kgaccount.....people need to see the truth about what happens behind the scenes...a lot of public doesn't understand that the system serving disabled is a massive bureacracy that often thwarts a parent's attempt to keep their children at home, where they are most often, the safest, as the family knows every little idiosycrisy (medical and behaviora) that no amount of outsiders could ever grasp...that's why they screw up so much when our kids are placed...you have 55 different persons in 23 agencies supposedly "monitoring" them and all it is a major con job where they write fictitious statements on reports to make it appear as if they are doing something for the client, when in fact, most of it is babysitting and pushing drugs so the client ends up with a chemical lobotomy sitting in front of TV while the owner of the group homes drive off in their mercedes to go to another sushi dinner, or, in some cases the owners of group homes are truly good persons who, by no fault of their own, just can't do the job of a parent. And I will never understand why a group home or ICH ddh, or ddn facility will get upwards of 6000 bucks a month to house our kids, but we, as families are NEVER offered this monetary suppport to KEEP our kids at home. Lastly, don't forget the horrific stories of kids placed out of home who end up dead. Major cover ups are going on all the time.....
December 7, 2009 8:21 PM | Reply