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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLong Term Support Planning Committee 04-18-19966T . CROIX COUNTY NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETING TO: Robert Boche, Chairman St. Croix County Board FROM: Ron Lockwood, SW u viso Long Term Sup t nit DATE: April - 199-_ ___ ____ COMMITTEE TITLE: Long Term Support MEETING DATE: Thursday, April 18, 1996 MEETING TIME: 1:30 p.m. lanning Committee Board Room - St. Croix Co. Health & Human Services Complex MEETING LOCATION: 1445 N. 4th Street, New Richmond, WI 54017 CALL TO ORDER: ROLL CALL: ADOPTION OF AGENDA: ACTION ON PREVIOUS MINUTES: DATE/LOCATION OF NEXT MEETING: AGENDA: (Agenda not necessarily presented in this order) UNFINISHED BUSINESS: Public Hearing to get input regarding 1997 LTS Plan & Budget. NEW BUSINESS: 1) Financial Report 2) Variance & Purchase Requests 3) Waiting list report 4) Temporary injunction suspends enforcement of COP and MA Home Care caps. 5) Estate recovery implementation for COP. 6) State DHSS involved in planning long term care redesign and managed care is a major theme - implications for county government. ANNOUNCEMENTS & CORRESPONDENCE: POSSIBLE AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING: ADJOURNMENT: Copies to: County Clerk's Office Committee Members /lts-com/notice LONG TERM SUPPORT PLANNING COMMITTEE MEETING THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 1996 Members Present: Charles Dow, Vern Dull, Honorine Gedatus, Lee Kellaher, Ray Mealey, Charles Murphy, Robert Stephens, Wanda Viellieux ` Members excused: Lee Steinberger, Glenda Zielski Members absent: James Craig, Lynn Erkkila, Myrtle Munns, Marguerite Sumner Staff present: John Borup and Ron Lockwbod Meeting called to order by Chair Ray Mealey at 1:30 p.m. Roll Call: 8 present, 2 excused, 4 absent Motion to adopt agenda as presented by Robert Stephens, second by Vern Dull. Motion carried. Motion to accept minutes of previous meeting as presented by Robert Stephens, second by Charles Dow. Motion carried. Date of next meeting set by Chair Ray Mealey for Thursday, June 20, 1996 in the Board Room of the Human Services Complex in New Richmond unless otherwise stated in meeting notice. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: Members discussed holding a public hearing to get input regarding the 1997 LTS Plan and Budget. Chair Ray Mealey argued for a public information meeting to communicate to the general public about the various programs administered by the Long Term Support Unit. John Borup encouraged the Committee to hold a hearing in June to get testimony from consumers, providers and other interested citizens. John said that getting ideas from the public early in the budget process would make it possible to modify agency budget proposals to bring them into line with what the public wants. It was thought by some that the public information function could be combined with the process of getting input from the public but no specific method for doing so was determined. NEW BUSINESS: Financial Report: Ron Lockwood presented a report on year to date activity for LTS programs. Ron emphasized that the number of persons served under MA Personal Care are down from 55 last year to 8 in February, 1996 because the main provider agencies (Indianhead and Aurora) are now certified to bill for the services directly to EDS. Supportive Home Care services continue to decline because the program was eliminated at the State level and the county is not serving new SHC program participants. A small allocation was set aside to continue those persons currently on the program. Also, the Community Based Living Arrangement program was merged with the CIP 1 B program. LTS Committee Meeting April 18, 1996 Page Two Variance and Purchase Requests: There were none. Waiting List Report: COP 15; CIP 2/COP-W 18; Alzheimer Caregiver Support 1. Temporary Injunction: The COP and Home Care Caps which limit the amount of state dollars that can be spent on home care have been temporarily suspended until DHSS complies with formal rule making procedures. Correspondence from Legislators: State Senator Alice Clausing and State Representative Bob Dueholm and Al Baldus responded to our recommendations regarding AB 739 and AB 772. AB 772 would eliminate the caps on COP and Home Care. Legislators are fighting hard for repeal of the caps. Clausing is a co-sponsor in the Senate and Al Baldus is an author and Bob Dueholm a co-sponsor in the Assembly. All three legislators are fighting hard to repeal the caps. Regarding AB 739 which would expand COP funding Alice Clausing and Bob Dueholm are co-sponsors and Al Baldus is supportive. Estate Recovery: Ron Lockwood reminded the committee that the MA Estate Recovery program applies to COP as well as to the MA Waiver Programs. Current and future participants 55 and over will be affected by this collections program just as persons in nursing homes have been for many years. State DHSS Redesign: As part of the mandated reorganization of DHSS the Long Term Care programs are in for a major redesign. The state is seriously considering combining institutional and community Medical Assistance financing into one allocation to county government or to a private managed care system. An inter- disciplinary assessment team would determine a level of care for each potential program participant and an equivalent resource limit and the resource allocated by the team would follow the person whether the person chose institutional or community care. There would be no waiting lists for community care. Community care would be as accessible as institutional care is currently. Other possibilities include the consolidation of all services for the elderly. How this would occur has not yet been determined. County government's role in administering long term care services could be greatly expanded or narrowed depending on the statewide strategy that is developed over the next few months. Motion to adjourn at 3:10 p.m. by Robert Stephens, second by Charles Dow. Motion carried. i Z,3-�� Submitted by: Ron L ckwood LTS Social Work Supervisor S-F �A _ I� b 0EC-& PA&S S 1+- z -� (,) MATT POMMER "Home care debate wasn't pretty Last week Assembly Republi- cans showed their, ugly side. It happened when Democrats tried unsuccessfully to get the majority Republicans to con- sider a bill to re- peal the recently enacted spending caps on home care. MADMON COLUMNIST q The spending limits are aimed at some 1,300 persons — most of them confined to wheelchairs — who get Medicaid care o in their homes. The cost of that care ex- ceeds what the state would spend if the r wheelchair folks were in nursing homes. or The political answer is simple: The " wheelchair folks have to cut their spend- ing or go to nursing homes. Repealing that budget bill directive would cost the state $4 million annually. Can the state afford it? The assorted surpluses of general -fund money are pro- jected at more than $250 million by mid- 1997. Republicans turned angry when some 30 wheelchair -bound citizens turned up to see the vote in the Legislature. The third - floor Assembly galleries have very limit- ed access for those in wheelchairs. - Democrats suggested bending the rules and allowing the wheelchair -bound folks to sit in the back of the chamber and watch the debate. Republicans went ballistic at the idea. They accused the Democrats of trying to embarrass them. The Republicans need- ed no help on that score; they proved ca- pable of embarrassing themselves. If we let people in wheelchairs do this, other people will also want the privilege, argued State Rep. Ben Brancel, R-En- deavor. It's safe to assume that none of the people in the wheelchairs had opted vol- untarily for that lifestyle. Finally, Re- publicans relented and allowed the wheelchair users in to watch the debate. The Assembly then, on a party -line vote, refused to take up the measure, ef- fectively killing the repeal. The wheelchair debate and treatment were far different than the way the As- sembly handled legislation to legalize gambling machines in taverns. The Assembly took up that legislation knowing full well Senate leaders said the tavern measure would never, never get up for action this year. But the Tavern League is more politi- cally powerful than the folks in the wheelchairs. They are opinion leaders and given to campaigns. Clearly the Assembly had forgotten the oft -quoted farewell speech of the late Clifford "Tiny" Krueger, R-Merrill. Some 13 years ago, Krueger — widely viewed as both the Voice of the North and the Conscience of the Legislature — left the Senate, reminding those he left behind of their "obligations." "There is the obligation to provide vig- orous leadership in solving the state's problems. But there is an equal obliga- tion, one often overlooked, to be sensitive and compassionate toward those who lack the power, or the means, to compete in the society you govern," he said. "In our state, Wisconsin's founders gave us a command to go forward. Throughout our political traditions, our Progressive ancestors gave us a mandate to care for those who cannot walk at our pace. While here, I have always listened to both those voices from our past. I ask you always to do the same." He recalled that Sen. Robert M. La Follette's dream was "one day every hu- man being would have a life of dignity and honor.... You must remind those who want to delay the dream that human dignity is not a privilege dependent upon prosperity. It is a right upon which pros- perity itself depends," said Krueger. Time may be running out on those in. wheelchairs. A court has barred imple- mentation of the law until formal rules are spelled out. Those rules - and nursing homes for wheelchair residents — are coming soon. x„ti `y, .m, v."rY✓t,� + .