HHS Approves Waiver for Louisiana Disability Program

April 24, 2003
HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson has approved a Louisiana waiver that will expand home- and community-based services for more than 4,200 Medicaid beneficiaries with developmental disabilities to make it easier for them to live in their homes.

The waiver also creates a new program that gives some beneficiaries and their families greater control over their Medicaid benefits and services.

"Through this waiver, Louisiana will make it easier for thousands of Medicaid beneficiaries to live at home instead of institutions and also will create a new option for beneficiaries to direct their own care," Thompson said. "By promoting this kind of innovation across the country, we are helping thousands of Americans live fuller, more independent lives."

The waiver will expand home- and community-based services to more than 4,200 beneficiaries with developmental disabilities. These new services include a variety of assistance to help beneficiaries find and keep jobs, as well as skilled nursing services, respite care and help coordinating care. It also helps cover some of the costs of moving from an institution to community- based housing.

In addition, the waiver allows the state to offer some beneficiaries to direct their own care - allowing these beneficiaries and their families to decide the care and services that best meets their needs and allows them to remain at home. Louisiana will phase in this portion of the waiver, starting with 100 beneficiaries in the first year and growing slowly as it develops experience in this new, innovative approach to providing care.

Louisiana is one of the first states to receive approval of a consumer-directed home and community-based services program through HHS' Independence Plus initiative. The initiative helps states develop Medicaid programs for consumer-directed services using either a demonstration or a home and community-based services waiver.

The Independence Plus initiative supports President Bush's New Freedom Initiative, which is working to ensure that all Americans have the opportunity to live close to their families and friends, to live more independently, to engage in productive employment and to promote community life.

"Allowing persons with disabilities and their families to engage in 'self-direction' is a high priority for the Bush Administration and my agency," said Tom Scully, administrator of HHS' Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the agency that oversees federal health insurance programs.

As former governors, President Bush and Secretary Thompson have made it a priority to make it simpler for states to submit Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Program waiver requests and to initiate new programs such as Independence Plus. Since January 2001, HHS has approved waivers and plan amendments that have expanded eligibility to more than 2 million people and enhanced benefits for more than 6 million people.

Additional information regarding federal support of self-direction options can be obtained at www.cms.hhs.gov/independenceplus.