Senate approves ‘prompt pay’ bill, with Medicaid provision

House to decide if KanCare managed care
contractors are required to make prompt payments  

The Kansas Senate on Tuesday approved a bill designed to increase requirements that the state’s KanCare managed care contractors make prompt payments to Medicaid service providers.

According to a KHI News Service article, the bill had wide support from doctors and service providers. Supporters said payment delays could create critical cash flow problems, especially from small provider organizations.  Since Brownback’s KanCare initiative was launched earlier this year, provider groups have reported problems getting timely payments for services from the managed care companies.

Before approving the bill, the Senate added a provision to it stating that the state’s Medicaid program can’t be expanded in keeping with the Affordable Care Act without express approval of the Legislature. The federal health reform law encourages states to expand Medicaid eligibility to include people earning up to 138 percent of federal poverty guidelines. Kansas currently has among the nation’s most restrictive eligibility standards and essentially limits Medicaid to poor children and those who are disabled or elderly. Childless adults don’t qualify regardless of how poor they are.

The underlying legislation of the bill would allow Medicaid providers who don't get paid in timely fashion a cause of action to pursue their claims in court and allow the assessing of 12 percent extra for each month a managed care company did not fully pay or if the KanCare contractor failed to deny a claim within a certain period.

It is now up to the House to decide if it will accept the bill with the Senate's changes.

Developmental Disability Awareness - more than a month

March is Developmental Disability Awareness Month.
This year's theme is "Ability at Work".

Developmental Disability Awareness Month is drawing to a close, but for individuals, families, and service providers, intellectual and developmental disability (I/DD), awareness can be a lifelong struggle.

Most people have probably encountered an example of discrimination or ignorance toward someone with an intellectual or developmental disability. From saying “the r-word” to active avoidance in public, people are unknowingly perpetuating the stigma and negative stereotypes that face people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

InterHab, a non-profit association of I/DD service providers, is focusing on assisting Kansans with intellectual and developmental disabilities in increasing their independence, productivity, integration, and inclusion into the community.

Hand-in-hand with individuals with disabilities, community leaders and lawmakers, the members of InterHab have positively impacted the state and will continue to do so throughout the year.

“We have fought hard for many years to promote awareness and protect the rights of Kansans with intellectual and developmental disabilities,” said Tom Laing, Executive Director of InterHab. “It’s important that lawmakers, along with the general public, view those with intellectual and developmental disabilities as active members of our community with individual strengths and unique contributions to our culture and economy.”

InterHab has an in-depth 2014 legislative platform emphasizing quality-based community expansion, responsive services, and system management that meets the needs of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

If you’re not a member of InterHab you can still raise awareness. Encourage your family, friends and coworkers to take time to recognize the contributions of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Vocalize your support on social media. Write your local senators and representatives. Most importantly, practice inclusion in your day-to-day life. Make a new friend who’s different than you, volunteer, and be respectful and mindful of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Autism bill goes on to the full Senate

Last week a Senate committee endorsed a House-passed bill requiring state-regulated health insurers to cover the diagnosis and treatment of children with autism. According to a KHI News Service article, bills requiring state-regulated health insurers to cover autism have been the subject of legislative debate for the past six years.

This measure would require insurers to cover a type of therapy known as “applied behavior analysis" for up to 25 hours a week for autistic children diagnosed between birth and age 5. The treatments would be covered for four years, meaning that a child diagnosed at 2 would have access to up to 25 hours of the therapy a week until reaching age 6; a child diagnosed at 4 would have access until age 8. After the four years, coverage for the therapy could be limited to 10 hours per week. Children diagnosed after age 6 would be eligible for 10 hours per week. The coverage could end when the child turns 12.

Advocates for families with autistic children have argued that 10 hours per week wouldn't be enough and that 25 hours should be considered the bare minimum. Forty or more hours, they said, might be needed by severely autistic children.

Brandy Porter, a Manhattan attorney whose 10-year-old son, Will, is autistic, asked committee members to consider expanding the coverage to include children up to age 18.

“Cutting off the age limit at 12 would be failing our children,” she said. “It will not give them the opportunity to reach their full potential because skills will arise that can’t be taught prior to age 12.”

After the committee vote, Porter expressed support for the bill. “I’m glad something was passed,” she said. “It’s been a long six years. It’s not a perfect bill by any means, but I guess it is something. My child’s still going to get services because I pay for them out of pocket and I’m not going to stop.”

Read the entire story.

Lost in KanCare

Tammy Leach speaks at Big Tent Coalition Press Conference,
Photo courtesy of KHI News Service

Issues with KanCare are in the news once again.

KHI News Service reported Wednesday of  a press conference at the Statehouse where advocates for Kansans with physical and mental disabilities accused the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services of restricting access to state’s Medicaid-funded in-home services.

“People with disabilities, unfortunately, are far too often getting lost in KanCare,” said Rocky Nichols, who’s also executive director at the Disability Rights Center of Kansas. “This is a crisis and, unfortunately, it’s a man-made crisis.”

State reports, he said, show that while almost 7,000 people with physical disabilities received Medicaid-funded, in-home services in 2010, enrollment in 2014 is down to about 5,500.

“Even more troubling,” Nichols said, was that the numbers of people on the KDADS-administered waiting list for the services have been in decline, too.

KDADS, he said, appears to be making it more difficult for people to apply for services and continue receiving them. Nichols also pointed to data showing that under KanCare, per capita spending on the physically disabled has increased more than 40 percent.

Under KanCare, he said, the state appears to be spending more money on fewer people.

“Where is this money going?” he said.

At the press conference, five people with physical and mental disabilities talked about troubles they’ve had with KDADS.

“I am a brain injury survivor who’s lost in the KanCare system,” said Tammy Leach, a 50-year-old Topeka woman who was critically injured in an automobile accident in 2011. “I’ve been waiting patiently for services for five months. There are plenty of slots open and I’ve been declared eligible, but I can’t get the state to approve or deny my application. It just sits there. I can’t get a straight answer from anyone.”

Nichols said KDADS’ efforts to contact people on the waiting lists have been half-hearted.

“We can put them in touch with hundreds of people who’ve been declared eligible for services and been on the waiting list for years,” he said. “These are people who haven’t changed addresses for years, but they haven’t heard a word from KDADS. For the state to say they can’t find them is just not true.”

As a member of the Big Tent Coalition, InterHab is committed to advocating on these topics as they relate to Kansans with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. InterHab’s executive leadership is on the front lines of this issue and regularly provides testimony at legislative sessions. To learn more about how InterHab membership, email Ashley Nadeau, Director of Marketing and Membership Services, at anadeau@interhab.org.

Auditors find no evidence CDDO agencies have advantaged from “conflict of interest”

KHI News Service reported Wednesday that legislative auditors identified an “inherent conflict of interest” in

how the Community Developmental Disability Organization (CDDO) system was structured when it was created 20 years ago. However, auditors found no evidence that the agencies were using that to their advantage or to disadvantage competitors.

Spokespersons for the CDDOs said the important audit finding was that the agencies hadn't abused the system to their advantage, which is something they have been telling lawmakers since legislators introduced a bill last year aimed at revamping the system so that CDDOs couldn't assess needs and also provide direct services to clients.

Tom Laing, executive director of InterHab, the association that represents most of the CDDOs, called the audit a "clean bill of health," for a system in place since lawmakers wrote the Developmental Disabilities Reform Act in 1995.

Continue reading…

InterHab Day at the Capitol gives focus to I/DD community service providers

This Wednesday, InterHab will host its annual Day at the Capitol. During this lunch event, senators and representatives will meet with I/DD community service providers, giving all parties the chance to discuss current legislative issues of concern to Kansans with intellectual and developmental disabilities. 

“The Day at the Capitol event is a great opportunity for our members to interact with the legislators who shape the laws and policies which directly affect their organizations,” said Tom Laing, Executive Director of InterHab. “Members can thank their representatives and senators while encouraging them to keep I/DD services in mind during times of decision making.”

Kansas legislators look to InterHab and its members as a source for information on I/DD issues. InterHab staff has served as governmental appointees at both the state and federal level on a variety of disability issues. The non-profit association supports a diverse membership base of I/DD service providers throughout the state.

“InterHab and its members enjoy our Day at the Capitol because it reminds policymakers about the needs of the I/DD community service system,” said Laing. “This is especially important now as funding issues, waiting lists, workforce capacity continue to affect our members, in addition to the challenges faced with the implementation of KanCare.”

InterHab members are true advocates for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The 2014 Day at the Capitol is one way InterHab exercises advocacy efforts designed to educate community leaders, state leaders and other stakeholders on the needs of the I/DD community. The 2014 Day at the Capitol takes place Wednesday, March 12^th from 11:30 a.m. -1:30 p.m. on the first floor of the Topeka Capitol building.