NAME CHANGE: The Michigan Association of Community Mental Health Boards is changing its name - “…The Association’s new name will be the Community Mental Health Association of Michigan. This new name retains the words ‘community mental health’ to represent the association’s link to the community mental health movement that, fifty years since its genesis, is in robust and continual development. However, you will notice that the name no longer contains the word ‘Boards’. While the Association is still led by the members of the Boards of Directors of the state’s public Community Mental Health centers (CMHs) and public Prepaid Inpatient Health Plans (PIHPs) – with Board members making up 2/3 of the Association’s Member Assembly – the Michigan Mental Health Code (the state law under which the public BHIDD [Behavioral Healthcare and Intellectual/Developmental Disability services] system in Michigan is governed has not, for years, used the term ‘Board’ to describe the local and regional organizations that make up the public BHIDD system. Additionally, none of the Association’s members use the word 'Board' in their names.”
Local CMH agencies serve people with mental illness and developmental disabilities, as well as other populations needing public social, health, and behavioral services. Along with representing the Michigan Community Mental Health agencies, the CMHA represents the PIHP’s (Prepaid Inpatient Health Plans), the regional administrative agencies that, among other things, distribute Medicaid funds to local agencies.
I attended one day of the HCB Waiver conference in October and did not come close to covering all the topics offered. The CMHA has made available all the written materials for the conference sessions. In my experience, families usually find that topics that provide information on the services available in Michigan and how to access them are the most helpful to begin with. I recommend for starters the written materials on the following topics:
- Children’s Special Health Care Services Program Overview
- Children’s Waiver Program Overview (CWP)
- Use of the Choice Voucher System in the CWP
- Understanding the Medicaid Administrative Fair Hearings Process and New Managed Care Regulations
- HSW Waiver Overview (Habilitation Supports Waiver for DD)
- Children’s Waiver Program – Advanced Issues
- HSW Advanced Issues – Focus on Compliance and Quality
I sometimes disagree with the interpretation of policies that are part of the discussion on Medicaid Waivers, but at least the written documents from the conference give families enough information to explore these topics further as well as providing state and local contacts that may be helpful in obtaining services for a DD family member.
**********************
A quick reference to acronyms and their meanings:
HSW - the Habilitation Supports Waiver, the Michigan Medicaid Waiver for people with developmental disabilites
CWP - the Michigan Children's Medicaid Waiver Program
HCBS - Home and Community-Based Services
BHIDD - Behavioral Healthcare and Intellectual/Developmental Disability services system
CMH - Community Mental Health
PIHP - Prepaid Inpatient Health Plans; regional administrative agencies that distribute Medicaid funds to local agencies
CWP - the Michigan Children's Medicaid Waiver Program
HCBS - Home and Community-Based Services
BHIDD - Behavioral Healthcare and Intellectual/Developmental Disability services system
CMH - Community Mental Health
PIHP - Prepaid Inpatient Health Plans; regional administrative agencies that distribute Medicaid funds to local agencies
No comments:
Post a Comment