Welcome spring. As the weather heats up, the
legislature cools down. Well, sort of. The 2006 legislative session ends at
midnight on April 10th and you can bet, it’ll be exciting right up until then.
Some of the bills we’ve been working on this session have done great. Of
course, others have not. Here’s the run down on legislation, and some of the
other things we’ve been up to.
SB 771/HB 1330 – Maryland Medicaid Advisory
Committee (MAC bill) - This bill is CDRC’s legislative project
for the 2006 session in Annapolis. As
we stated in last months newsletter, this piece of legislation would call for at
least 5 members of the Maryland Medicaid Advisory Committee
to be people who are on Medicaid so that people who have Medicaid get more of a
say in what happens with the Medicaid program. It also asks that some money be
made available to help with transportation, child care, and other expenses that
might keep someone from being able to participate. The Department of Health
& Mental Hygiene (DHMH) initially opposed the bill
because they don’t want to set a precedent for paying consumers for doing work
on advisory committees but later supported the bill with amendments (changes).
At first DHMH didn’t know why we wanted people to be able to have “cognitive
supports” because they had never provided those. CDRC taught DHMH and the
legislature about how important time with a trusted ally can be for people to
understand what the issue is that is being discussed. This is the first time
that this kind of meeting support has been in state law in Maryland. CDRC worked
closely with DHMH on the amendments and the bill has now passed both the
House of Delegates and the Senate and will hopefully be set for a signing date
when everyone can come down
HB 1574- Medicaid
Advisory Committee - Medical Assistance Program - Amendments and Waiver
Applications. This bill will have a hearing in the Senate on April 5th. The
bill that Del. Hubbard filed said that DHMH had to let people know in a public
way when they are going to make changes to the Medicaid program, “Nothing
about US without US!” The new federal laws make it easier for DHMH to make big
changes - like charging people more money for their wheelchairs, medicines, make
it hard to use the emergency room – in the Medicaid program without telling
anyone until it is too late to have a say on it. The bill passed the House but
got changed so that many BIG Medicaid changes can be done in secret. Most of our
allies oppose these BIG changes that could be made. So people are going to tell
the Senate Finance Committee on April 5th to “Let the Sun Shine IN!
Put the SPA back in the bill!” (The SPA is the State Plan Amendments, one way
to change Medicaid) See you there!
SB 447 / HB 843 - This bill would create an
annual inflation related increase for DD and Mental Health providers. That
means when things cost more to live, they will get a small raise in pay. The
title of the bill is Department of Health and Mental Hygiene -
Developmental Disabilities and Mental Health Services – Cost of Living. This means that your staff will be more likely
to continue working for service providers knowing that they will be earning
better pay. Service Provider agencies will have an easier time hiring and
keeping qualified staff once they are able to offer a cost of living adjustment
to those employee wages. Agencies need this bill to help with all the items a
provider must pay for – like housing costs, utility costs, fuel costs, food,
etc. CDRC member Bill Ohge testified on
the house side for this bill February 28th,
(and did a g-r-e-a-t job), Michael Taylor submitted written testimony on
the Senate side. This bill has passed the Senate unanimously but is not doing
well in the House of Delegates. Don’t worry, we’re working on it. Let us
know if you want us to help you contact your Delegate to let them know what you
think. Or, be sure to ask your provider if you want help to contact your
Delegate to let them know how you feel.
SB 10/HB 123 – Real
Property - Condominiums - Conversion of Rental Facilities - Extended Leases.
This is a bill introduced by our friend Senator Grosfeld that deals with
an issue that is becoming a big problem everywhere and has already affected CDRC
members. The problem addressed by this bill is when an apartment building
“goes condo”. This bill would require some landlords who want to
change to selling apartments instead of renting them (condominiums are
apartments you own instead of renting) to give a person with a disability a 3
year lease extension to allow them more time to look for another place to live
if they are unable to purchase the condominium. The bill also changes the term
“handicapped citizen” to “person with a disability.”
The bill has passed both the House of Delegates and the Senate and will
likely also be going to the Governor for his signature next month.
SB 715 / HB 1038 - Personal Care
Providers - Registry and Training.
By requiring
training for nearly all types of care, this bill makes the offer of assistance
from a family member or friend a difficult task. Last year the legislature passed HB1542 which created the Personal
Assistance Service
Advisory Committee (PASAC)
Their job is to analyze Maryland’s home care system and submit a report of
recommendations to the governor’s office by October 1st of each
year. This bill has been withdrawn on the house side and amended to
assign the work detailed in the bill to the PASAC. As it is now, CDRC no longer opposes this bill.
Meetings
John and Kenny attended a meeting with Wendy Kronmiller of
the Office of Health Care Quality (OHCQ) on
the implementation of Right To Be Informed for
people who get services from the Developmental Disability Administration (our
bill from last year). We discussed ways to measure how often Service
Coordination and other support agencies are offering people who get services
from DDA “Least Restrictive Service Options” as required under RTBI.
Wendy was very agreeable to work with us and said that she can do 4 things for
us right away including: 1) report deficiencies, (when options aren’t being
offered) and, 2) communicate with providers that they need to be offering
“Least Restrictive” options. Wendy will be sending us a follow-up from our
meeting and we’ll be sure to pass it along to you.
We also had a meeting with Service Coordination Inc.
about finding and helping people in Nursing Facilities who received DDA services
and how can we work to get them out with all the services they need. CDRC
Co-Leader Kenny, and CDRC members Sarah and Gayle feel they had a very good
meeting with the Service Coordination folks. Service Coordination was very
excited to have us involved because they have been frustrated in the past trying
to help people who want to leave and go back to the community. A follow-up
meeting will be scheduled and more Service Coordinators will attend to talk
about getting people out. This is a very exciting development for CDRC! Our
collaboration is going to make a difference. Stay tuned.
PASAC & MAC members needed – As you know, CDRC
has 2 members on the Personal Assistance Services Advisory Committee (PASAC),
and 1 member on the Medicaid Advisory Committee (MAC). Both of these groups need more people with disabilities. The
MAC needs 1) A parent of a child that is on Medicaid, 2) An individual with
“Mental Illness” that is on Medicaid, 3) an individual with a Traumatic
Brain Injury (TBI) that is on Medicaid, 4) An elderly individual who is on
Medicaid, and 5) An individual that is, or has experienced, homlessness that is
on Medicaid.
The PASAC is
looking for members that receive 1) Individualized Support Services (ISS), 2) In
Home Aid Services (IHAS), 3) Senior Care, and 4) Living At Home waiver Services.
CDRC will be making referrals but, if you qualify under any of these categories
and wish to be considered for appointment to these committees please contact
CDRC Co-Leader Little John. His contact info. is at the top of the first page of
this newsletter.
Website – building the CDRC NetWork
The website has been updated a
couple of times since the last newsletter. So, be sure to check the Photos,
Resources, and Newsletters sections of the site. www.thecdrc.org. Also you can
find your Senator and Delegates in the Resources Section and links to lots of
interesting events.