Babies Can't Wait SICC Meeting - 11/2 in LaGrange

[Guest guest]

The Next Meeting of the State Interagency Coordinating Council (SICC) for

Early Intervention Programs-Babies Can’t Wait will take place on November 2,

2006 in LaGrange, Georgia.

Parents, providers, advocates and others interested in issues related to

young children with special needs are invited

Those wishing to make public comment may submit your ideas to the BCW

Coordinator, Moss at skmoss@... or fax them to (404)

657-2763

no later than October 27, 2006.

____________________________________

Here is a recent article that explains the SICC's role in early intervention

in Georgia.

Medicaid funding shortages limit early intervention services

Tue, 09/26/2006 - 4:20pm

By: The Citizen

Wyatt a 29 month old toddler with significant delays in speech and sensory

processing is at risk of losing the early intervention he needs to start school

ready to learn. Likewise, Sanaya, a toddler with significant delays in

communication and cognition is being denied needed speech therapy.

Georgia’s Interagency Coordinating Council for Early Intervention Programs

(SICC) including parents, service providers and other non-Department of Human

Resources, Non-Department of Community Health agency members, called for

immediate attention to the recent impact of Medicaid changes, funding shortages,

and

increased Federal requirements on early intervention services in Georgia. The

SICC is charged with providing advice and assistance to the Department of

Human Resources (the lead agency for early intervention programs).

Babies Can’t Wait (BCW) is the beginning of special education in Georgia. BCW

currently provides early intervention supports and services to families of

over 5000 infants and toddlers statewide from birth to age three who have

significant developmental delays. Federal funds to support this program come

from

Part C of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the same

federal legislation that also funds special education in Georgia’s public

schools.

Although it is an education program, BCW is administered through DHR’s Public

Health branch and services are provided through Georgia’s 18 public health

districts.

A large body of research in early child development and education indicates

that an investment in early intervention results in long-term savings through

reduced special education costs as well as other savings realized through

productive employment and participation in society. However, the implementation

of

Medicaid Care Management Organizations (CMOs), past and present funding

shortages and federal requirements to increase caseloads statewide have placed

the

program in serious financial jeopardy. Funds for the program have declined

steadily while demands for service have increased.

BCW funding and costs are intricately interwoven with and impacted by

Georgia’s Medicaid policies and rate structure due to federal policies

requiring that

BCW funds for services be used as a payer of last resort and requiring that

other available federal funds such as Medicaid cannot be supplanted by BCW

funds. If specific CMOs choose not to provide required BCW services such as

service coordination, BCW will have to cover the cost which could mean millions

of

dollars not available in the current budget.

With the implementation of Medicaid CMOs on June 1st in the metro and central

CMO regions of the state, the BCW funding base has been further jeopardized

by the loss of service coordination revenues and the additional costs

associated with providing services which are not being covered by the CMOs.

Extensive

loss of service is expected with the September 1 statewide roll-out.

Babies and toddlers with developmental delays are paying the price. Many

infants and toddlers like Wyatt and Sanaya, who have been receiving therapy

services through the BCW program have been denied services through Amerigroup.

These

are children who had been receiving early intervention through BCW but

because they are Medicaid recipients they are caught in a bureaucratic quagmire

and

risk losing developmental gains made through early intervention. These

families don’t have the means to pay for these services and BCW can’t

legally

supplant Medicaid funded services.

Compounding that dilemma, the council discovered that many significant

barriers exist for service providers when accessing Medicaid CMO reimbursements

to

support BCW services. For example, the time intensive, labor intensive, paper

intensive, confusing and often redundant prior approval process to get BCW

services authorized and approved for reimbursement. Likewise, frequent

resubmissions of copies of the same documentation are required in order to

obtain prior

approvals. We are losing early intervention service providers at an alarming

rate.

In a call to action letter to Governor Perdue, SICC Chair Vail noted,

“the bottom line is…that we are losing service providers in a field where

critical shortages already exist. Public comment to the SICC during its July

meeting in Rome echoed a similar concern, “the State’s capacity to provide

early

intervention services to children and families will be further diminished if

the funding system is not addressed. “ The Council proposes several

suggestions to help remedy this disaster in the making. Allowing children in

Babies

Can’t Wait to be “carved out†of Medicaid CMO enrollment (as is the case

for CMS

enrolled children) represented a possible remedy among many from the Council.

Interested parties can find more information about the State Interagency

Coordinating Council, its officers, members and local affiliates by visiting

HYPERLINK “http://www.health.state.ga.us/programs/bcw/icc.aspâ€

www.health.state.ga.us/programs/bcw/icc.asp

The State Interagency Coordinating Council (SICC) is required by federal

statute to be appointed by the Governor and is an important participant in the

development of a well-coordinated service delivery system. The ICC is an

independent group which does not “belong to†any particular agency.

We invite parents, providers, advocates and others interested in issues

related to young children with special needs to join us in planning the next

SICC

quarterly meeting on November 2, 2006 in LaGrange, Georgia.

You may submit your ideas to the BCW Coordinator, Moss at

skmoss@... or fax them to (404) 657-2763 no later than

October 27, 2006.