Some legislators are irate to learn the state Bureau of Medical Services effectively imposed a waiting list this month on new applicants for an in-home care program for the elderly.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Some legislators are irate to learn the state Bureau of Medical Services effectively imposed a waiting list this month on new applicants for an in-home care program for the elderly.
"I submit we're going to have people die waiting for a slot to open up," House Majority Leader Brent Boggs, D-Braxton, said Thursday. "They're going to be given a choice to either stay at home and die, or go into a nursing home."
At issue is the Aged and Disabled Waiver program, a state-managed program that currently provides in-home services for about 5,300 elderly or disabled West Virginians.
Marsha Morris, commissioner of the state Bureau for Medical Services, told legislators Thursday that the program is growing so rapidly, the bureau had to temporarily suspend new enrollment to determine the total number of slots the state needs to have approved for funding through the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
"We have to know how many people are on the waiver ... so we can certify the (federal) match," she said.
She said that while most in-home care providers bill the state promptly, some take as long as three months to submit claims.
"There's a real lag time in claims," she said.
"What we're trying to do is to just get an accurate number [of slots], and then manage those services," Morris told the Joint Committee on Government and Finance.
Earlier, House Health and Human Resources Chairman Don Perdue, D-Wayne, questioned whether the bureau could temporarily fund additional slots in the program entirely with state funds, particularly because the Department of Health and Human Resources carried over a $238 million budget surplus last month.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Some legislators are irate to learn the state Bureau of Medical Services effectively imposed a waiting list this month on new applicants for an in-home care program for the elderly.
"I submit we're going to have people die waiting for a slot to open up," House Majority Leader Brent Boggs, D-Braxton, said Thursday. "They're going to be given a choice to either stay at home and die, or go into a nursing home."
At issue is the Aged and Disabled Waiver program, a state-managed program that currently provides in-home services for about 5,300 elderly or disabled West Virginians.
Marsha Morris, commissioner of the state Bureau for Medical Services, told legislators Thursday that the program is growing so rapidly, the bureau had to temporarily suspend new enrollment to determine the total number of slots the state needs to have approved for funding through the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
"We have to know how many people are on the waiver ... so we can certify the (federal) match," she said.
She said that while most in-home care providers bill the state promptly, some take as long as three months to submit claims.
"There's a real lag time in claims," she said.
"What we're trying to do is to just get an accurate number [of slots], and then manage those services," Morris told the Joint Committee on Government and Finance.
Earlier, House Health and Human Resources Chairman Don Perdue, D-Wayne, questioned whether the bureau could temporarily fund additional slots in the program entirely with state funds, particularly because the Department of Health and Human Resources carried over a $238 million budget surplus last month.
"At a time when we have a budget surplus, we're either consciously or subconsciously moving to shrink the system, to the detriment of the clients it serves," he said.
Boggs argued that the wait list will cost the state more in the long run, since it costs about $22,000 more per year to place an individual in a nursing home than to have that person's meals, medication and personal services provided through in-home care.
"I think the facts bear it out that this is a huge money-saver, not to mention the quality-of-life issue of being able to stay in one's home," he said of the Aged and Disabled Waiver.
House Finance Chairman Harry Keith White, D-Mingo, said legislators were also concerned that some DHHR case managers are erroneously telling constituents that the waivers are not available because the Legislature failed to fund the program.
"If somebody out there is telling people that, they need to stop," he said.
Reach Phil Kabler at ph...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1220.
Post a comment