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Do you have questions about the Supports Intensity Scale assessment, called the SIS? The lawyers for all adults in the Idaho DD Medicaid program will be available to answer them this Friday. Look below for how to join the call.
Thumb about to press numbers on a mobile phone to make a call
Call in for a conference call about the SIS:
Date: Friday, June 15, 2018
Time: 10:30 am Mountain Time / 9:30 am Pacific Time
Number: 1-866-244-8528 (toll free) and then press code 728182
Watch the new video about why you should take the Supports Intensity Scale assessment, called the "SIS." The video shows Ritchie Eppink, one of the lawyers who represent each and every adults with developmental disabilities in the Idaho medicaid program who get a budget each year. He is one of the lawyers who represent all those adults in a court case called K.W. v. Armstrong.
That court case is about how the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare comes up with each person’s budget each year. The court ruled that the budget tool that the Department uses now is not fair. The Department has to come up with a new tool. Our job is to make sure that the Department does that right.
To make this change, we need to get good, up-to-date information about what people need. To do this, some people will have to take the new Supports Intensity Scale assessment. That’s called the “SIS.”
Have you been asked to take the SIS? If you have, please take it. The best way to make sure that the new system is fair is to make sure the Department has current information about what you need. If you do not take the SIS, we might end up with a worse system. Or it might take much longer before the system gets better.
Any information you give as part of this first round of SIS assessments in spring and summer 2018 will NOT be used to affect your budget or services in any way. The information from this round will just be used to build a better system.
If you need help to take the SIS, please let the assessor know what help you need. If you have questions, you can contact Ritchie at (208) 344-9750 extension 1202.
On June 15, 2018, we will hold a conference call to answer questions about the SIS. The call will be at 10:30 am MT and 9:30 am PT. To join, call 1-866-244-8528 (toll free) and then press code 728182.
If you've been asked to take the SIS, please take it. With your help, we will make a better system for adults with developmental disabilities in Idaho.
In the newest episode of The Jack Hansen Show, Jack interviews Christine Pisani, head of the Idaho Council on Developmental Disabilities.
In this episode, Christine explains what the Council on Developmental Disabilities does. Then Christine and Jack talk about Community NOW! Community NOW! is a group of adults with developmental disabilities and family members, plus Medicaid providers and officials. They meet to talk about changes they want to see in the Medicaid program for adults with developmental disabilities.
You can read more about the status of Community NOW! on the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare website for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, My Choice Matters.
Watch Episode 4 and share it with your friends and family today!
The Jack Hansen Show, Episode 4
You might get a notice in the mail this week. The notice is about a change to the class action Settlement Agreement in the K.W. v. Armstrong class action lawsuit.
The change is about the free trainings on how to handle an appeal. The change would let the lawyers who represent adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities in the K.W. lawsuit give those trainings. To learn more about the change, read the notice.
The change might not affect you. The change only affects who gives the trainings. It does not change anything else.
If you have concerns about the change, you can let the Court know about them. Mail the Court a letter with your concerns by March 31, 2018. The notice tells you where to mail your letter.
The Court will hold a hearing about the change on Monday, April 23, 2018, at 11:00 a.m. Mountain Time. Read the notice to learn more about the hearing.
Here is the notice:
Settlement Agreement change notice
If you have questions, just let us know!
Do you want to learn how to do a Medicaid appeal? Do you want to be a better advocate for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities?
Free trainings are coming up in Coeur d'Alene and Nampa. The trainings cover how to handle appeals in the Idaho Medicaid program for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities.
The free trainings are part of the Settlement Agreement in the K.W. v. Armstrong class action lawsuit. You can learn more about the Settlement Agreement on this website.
If you are a Service Coordinator or Support Broker and you complete this training, you will be able to get reimbursed from Medicaid for your work helping Medicaid DD program participants in budget appeals.
Read on for more details, and to pre-register for the trainings!
Four people sitting around a table with a notepad, looking at photos and smiling
Click here to pre-register for one of these trainings.
Coeur d'Alene training
Friday, December 1, 2017
10:30 am to about 3:30 pm
City of Coeur d'Alene Fire Department
Station 3 Training Room
1500 N 15th St.
Coeur d'Alene, ID 83814
Nampa training
Friday, January 19, 2018
10:30 am to about 3:30 pm
Nampa Public Library
Multipurpose Room A
215 12th Avenue S
Nampa, ID 83651
And click here for even more information about the trainings.
The new Jack Hansen Show episode is out! In this episode, Jack interviews Art Evans, Bureau Chief for Developmental Disability Services for Idaho Medicaid.
Jack asks Art about the K.W. versus Armstrong settlement, how adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities can get involved, and how all people with disabilities should be treated.
Watch it today and share with your friends and family:
The Jack Hansen Show, episode 3
Community NOW! is a program to hear directly from adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities. It is a program to hear what they want and need and how the Medicaid program in Idaho should change. It started earlier this year. We wrote about it when it started. Then we wrote about the first Community NOW! report when it came out in July 2017.
Community NOW! is still going. Here is what's happening:
Do you have questions? Do you have something to say?
You can contact us or you can contact Medicaid. We are the ACLU of Idaho, and we represent all adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities who are affected by these changes to Medicaid. You can contact us using this website. Just click here!
You can contact Medicaid about Community NOW! and these changes by calling 1-844-793-1286 or emailing KW@dhw.idaho.gov. If you have trouble reaching Medicaid that way, please let us know.
Do you want to stay up to date? Join our email lists. If you don't use email or need an accommodation, just let us know.
Jack Hansen is one of the thousands of Idahoans affected by the changes that are coming to the Idaho Medicaid program for adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities. The Jack Hansen Show is Jack's online series explaining the changes and how adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities need to get involved. We hope that these videos will help everyone in this Medicaid program has a voice in how the program works.
As promised in the first episode, Jack interviews Ritchie Eppink, Legal Director of the ACLU of Idaho, again in the second episode. This time, Jack asks Ritchie about the Settlement Agreement in the K.W. v. Armstrong class action lawsuit and what happens next:
To learn more, watch the video and read more on the Our Health and Welfare website.
On the next episode of The Jack Hansen Show, coming soon, Jack interviews Art Evans, Bureau Chief of Developmental Disability Services at the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.
Community NOW! is a new program. It is a program to hear directly from adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities. It is a program to hear what they want and need and how the Medicaid program in Idaho should change. It started earlier this year. We wrote about it when it started.
The first final report from the Community NOW! program is ready. You can read it here:
Cover of the first Community NOW! report: image of two people sitting closely together, above the title--"Service and Support Recommendations from Community NOW!"
We want to hear your feedback about it! Please contact us to let us know what you think about the report.
Last week, the ACLU gave national spotlight to the K.W. lawsuit about Idaho adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. In a national blog post, the ACLU explained how the case challenged they Idaho Medicaid was using complicated, computer-based formulas to come up with individual budgets.
Learn more about the case and read quotes from Ritchie Eppink, one of the lawyers involved in the case. The article is on the ACLU's national Free Future blog, about technology and civil liberties.