Promoting Home and Community-Based Alternatives to Institutionalization
Olmstead Advisory Committee
The Governor places a high priority on providing services for people with disabilities and seniors in the most integrated setting possible and adopting policies and practices that make it feasible to remain in the community. The Governor's recent Executive Order S-10-08 substantiates this Olmstead priority and authorizes the Secretary of the Health and Human Services Agency to form an advisory body, insuring the involvement of people with disabilities and other system stakeholders in making recommendations on actions to improve California's long term care system.
Agency Secretary Kim Belshé appointed Advisory Committee Members who represent consumers, family members, providers and advocates. Members of the committee serve on a volunteer basis without compensation. Brenda Premo, director of the Center for Disability Issues and the Health Professions at Western University of Health Sciences and a former director of the California Department of Rehabilitation, serves as chair of the committee. If you are interested in applying to serve on the committee, please complete and submit the California Olmstead Advisory Committee Application.
The committee is responsible for providing input to Agency on its efforts to implement the California Olmstead Plan, recommending actions to improve California's long-term care system and creating opportunities to fund expanded or new activities to support individuals with disabilities in their community. The committee meets as a full committee every three months. In the interim, the committee operates under three Work Groups charged with formulating policy recommendations in the areas of diversion, assessment/transition and data.
Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) waivers
The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) will be renewing, converting, or amending several Medi-Cal HCBS waivers during State Fiscal Year 2008-09. These processes generally take several months of planning, development and negotiation with the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) before waiver approval. They involve DHCS waiver, fiscal forecasting, and budget staff as well as program management from departments involved in the specific waiver. The fiscal impact of the waiver must meet applicable federal requirements for cost neutrality, and comply with any additional fiscal or cost restrictions imposed through the State’s budget process or legislation authorizing the waiver.
Process for Getting Stakeholder Input
DHCS is working with the Olmstead Advisory Committee (OAC) and other external stakeholders to get input on HCBS waiver issues relating to what services are most critical, how to outreach to vulnerable populations, waiver caps and waiting lists, and evaluation of quality and effectiveness. The input received will be vetted with executive management, and, as appropriate, included in the final application to CMS.