More than 3,000 Arkansans with disabilities are waiting for services to help them live outside of state institutions, a group of healthcare officials were told during the Arkansas Health Disparities Conference on Friday.
Keith Vire, Arkansas Support Network chief executive officer, was a part of a panel at the annual conference at the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Enterprise Development in Fayetteville.
Discussions at the event focused on a variety of topics, including services for the elderly, heath needs of college students and the Affordable Care Act’s effect on those with disabilities.
The Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010, and portions of the act have implemented. The Community First Choice Medicaid option is set to begin in July, Vire said.
Vire said the option will give people with disabilitiesthe opportunity to receive some services in a community or home setting. For instance, he said, someone with a disability may need help grocery shopping or balancing a budget to live on his own. He said other people may require a facility where staff members provide 24-hour assistance if needed, but they don’t need the extensive services provided in an institution.
“They get to hire staff to help them navigate the community,” Vire said.
Currently many of the services those with disabilities need to live on their own are not covered by Medicaid, Vire said. This leaves institutions as the only option.He said there is a Medicaid waiver that provides funding for community services, but only 4,000 individuals in the state have the waiver at one time. At this time, 3,000 people are on a waiting list to receive the waiver.
“We have a number of people who have been onthat waiting list for more than 10 years,” Vire said. “As parents age, taking care of an adult child gets to be more and more difficult. There becomes a point where these parents can’t do it alone anymore.”
The Community First Choice will remove the waiver process, Vire said. He said it will allow anyone with a disability the option to receive services in the community. However, these community services must be provided at a cost lessthan the cost of institutionalizing the patient.
Vire said the annual cost for institutionalizing a person with a disability is $120,000.
He said that a majority of the time, services can be provided to these people at a much lower cost.
The Medicaid option will not roll out all at once, Vire said.
Vire said those on the waiting list will be moved off as services become available in the state. He said organizations such as his that provide services to those who are disabled will have to hire more staff membersto meet the demand.
It could take nearly 18 months to get everyone off the waiting list, he said.
Jules Beck, co-chairman for the conference and clinical assistant professor of workforce development rehabilitation, human resources and communication disorders at the University of Arkansas, said the conference is a way to help those who work in the health-care field.
“We want to bring together those who work in the field and provide an opportunity for them to learn more about the various populations they may be working with,” Beck said.
Samantha Wilt, a student at the university seeking a master’s degree in social work, attended the event. She said a discussion about health-care issues on college campuses was interesting.
“It is interesting to learn all the different health issues, such as mental health, that the university health centers can treat,” Wilt said. “I learned that the University of Arkansas’ health center is not just an old school infirmary. It makes me feel better about recommending people to the center because I know they have the ability to help him.”
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 04/19/2014