3,000 waiting for disability services, panel says

More than 3,000 Arkansans with disabilities are waiting for services to help them live outside state institutions, a group of health-care officials were told during the Arkansas Health Disparities Conference on Friday.

Keith Vire, Arkansas Support Network chief executive officer, was a part of a panel at the annual conference at the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Enterprise Development in Fayetteville.

Discussions at the event focused on a variety of topics, including services for the elderly, heath needs of college students and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s effect on those with disabilities.

The Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010, and portions of the act have been implemented. The Community First Choice Medicaid option is set to begin in July, Vire said.

Vire said the option will give people with disabilities the opportunity to receive some services in a community or home setting. For instance, he said, someone with a disability may need help grocery shopping or balancing a budget to live on his own. He said other people may require a facility where staff members provide 24-hour assistance if needed, but they don’t need the extensive services provided in an institution.

Currently many of the services those with disabilities need to live on their own are not covered by Medicaid, Vire said. This leaves institutions as the only option. He said there is a Medicaid waiver that provides funding for community services, but only 4,000 individuals in the state have the waiver at one time. At this time, 3,000 people are on a waiting list to receive the waiver.

“We have a number of people who have been on that waiting list for more than 10 years,” Vire said. “As parents age, taking care of an adult child gets to be more and more difficult. There becomes a point where these parents can’t do it alone anymore.”

The Community First Choice will remove the waiver process, Vire said. He said it will allow anyone with a disability the option to receive services in the community. However, these community services must be provided at a cost less than the cost of institutionalizing the patient.

Vire said the annual cost for institutionalizing a person with a disability is $120,000. Most of the time, he said, services can be provided to these people at a much lower cost.

The Medicaid option will not roll out all at once, Vire said. He said those on the waiting list will be moved off as services become available in the state. He said organizations such as his that provide services to those who are disabled will have to hire more staff members to meet the demand. It could take nearly 18 months to get everyone off the waiting list, he said.

Jules Beck, co-chairman for the conference and clinical assistant professor of workforce development rehabilitation, human resources and communication disorders at the University of Arkansas, said the conference is a way to help those who work in the healthcare field.

“We want to bring together those who work in the field and provide an opportunity for them to learn more about the various populations they may be working with,” Beck said.

Arkansas, Pages 10 on 04/19/2014

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