Advocates, People With Disabilities and Other Stakeholders to Testify to Medicaid Redesign Team

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CDRNYS

For Immediate Release:
January 19, 2011

Chris Hilderbrant, Chief Operating Officer, (585) 546-7510, childerbrant@cdrnys.org

Advocates, People With Disabilities and Other Stakeholders to Testify to Medicaid Redesign Team

(Rochester, NY) Advocates from the Center for Disability Rights (CDR) as well as members of the disability community will be testifying to Governor Cuomo’s Medicaid Redesign Team tomorrow, January 20, 2011. They will be discussing the recent proposal made by CDR and the New York Association on Independent Living (NYAIL) that would reduce Medicaid costs by $1 billion over 5 years. Over 50 supporters of the proposal are expected to attend the hearing at Strong Museum, One Manhattan Square from 10:30am to 1:30pm.

The CDR proposal, released on January 7th, spells out exactly how these savings can be realized by taking advantage of newly enacted Federal programs, increasing the use of the Nursing Home Transition and Diversion (NHTD) waiver, and shifting people already receiving home care services into the more cost-effective Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP). Advocates from CDR have already met with senior staff from the Cuomo administration to explain how using more Consumer Directed and other home care options, instead of nursing facilities and more expensive options, would actually save the state hundreds of millions while delivering the services that people want.

According to CDR Policy Analyst, Leah Farrell, the proposal involves 8 steps:

Step 1: Transition people from nursing facilities who have expressed a desire to return to the community
Step 2: Assist people who are at risk of entering a nursing facility by supporting them in the community
Step 3: Utilize new community-based federal programs made available in the health care reform law
Step 4: Shift funding from institutional settings toward community-based programs
Step 5: Transition people from certified home health agencies to consumer directed personal assistance
Step 6: Transition people from traditional personal care to consumer directed personal assistance
Step 7: Expand the pool of direct care workers
Step 8: Increase the use of assistive technology to reduce the necessity for personal care

For more information on the proposal, the methodology and fiscal analysis, visit http://www.cdrnys.org.