On Monday, June 24 from 1:00 to 3:00 pm, Disability Advocates Advancing our Healthcare Rights (DAAHR), a coalition organized by BCIL and the Disability Policy Consortium, will hold a virtual forum on MassHealth’s plan to set up an Independent Assessment Entity (IAE) for long-term services and supports for people with disabilities, including many elders.
The Arc has shared its concerns about one centralized private agency making assessments for ALL long term services for MassHealth – services such as PCA, AFC, etc. Three reasons drive our concerns:
- The problems many of you already face when your or family member’s PCA hours are sent into MassHealth for annual re-evaluation. We expect this would be more problematic with a centralized agency for ALL such assessments.
- How do the providers in these different settings apply such assessments to the implementation of various services?
- How will the staff at this central IAE have the skills to conduct all these assessments properly?
As our friends at DAAHR noted, “Approximately 250,000 people receive these services in the state. […] Evaluations were placed in disability organizations decades ago because it was believed providers best understand disability and independent living—they are culturally competent.”
You can register to attend this virtual forum here.
For accommodations, contact Susan Smith at ssmith@bostoncil.org or (617) 338-6665. As part of your request, please include a description of the accommodation you will need and include as much detail as you can. Please provide your contact information to Susan in case they need more information. When possible, please allow at least seven days advance notice. Last-minute requests will be accepted but may be difficult to fill.
