Florida members

[Guest guest]

Hello there. I was wondering if someone could point me in the right

direction on your Early Invervention and how it works in Florida. In

California, the state pays for all of Chase's current EI (PT (twice a

week), OT, Child Development, etc), is that how it works in Florida,

too? I've looked at the government site and this is what it says:

" Early Intervention

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Medicaid may reimburse for services under the early intervention

program for Florida's infants and toddlers from birth to 36 months.

These services include: screenings; initial or follow-up evaluations;

and individual, group or home visit sessions. These services are for

children who have developmental delay or a condition that places them

at risk for developmental delay and are medically necessary

Provider Qualifications

Medicaid may only reimburse early intervention services that are

provided by a:

Medicaid enrolled early intervention services agency or group who

employs staff who are Florida licensed " healing arts " professionals

or paraprofessionals or non-healing arts certified Department of

Health, Children's Medical Services (CMS) Early Steps Infant Toddler

Developmental Specialists.

Medicaid enrolled early intervention services individual who is a

Florida licensed " healing arts " professional or paraprofessional or a

non-healing arts certified Department of Health, CMS Early Steps

Infant Toddler Developmental Specialist (ITDS). "

Does this mean the child has to be enrolled in Medicaid to receive

services? Is there a share of cost involved for the families? I don't

get it (what else is new?).

I have also been researching cms-kids.com and familycafe.net for more

info.

I am interested in this information because we are planning to move.

My husband wants to move to Denver and I want to move to S. Florida

where my family is. But if the services are a pain in Florida (and I

know they are not in Denver), then I would more than likely concede

to Denver for the sake of Chase's development (with no family around

for support). It's such a catch 22. Does anyone know the income limit

to see if we would need to apply for a waiver? Is that how the

waiver is used in Florida. We have Chase on Medi-Cal (equal to

Medicaid in Florida) and were only able to obtain it because of the

waiver.

Any insight would be helpful.

Thanks for your time.