44. The Many Flavors of Medicaid Waivers

Our show today is “The Different Flavors of Medicaid Waivers” …. but you are also going to hear a lot of discussion about person-centered-planning (PCP) and the proper use of two assessment tools associated with person centered planning process... the Supports Intensity Scale (SIS) and the Psycho-Social Assessment (PSA). Why??  Because assessment tools, person-centered plan and Medicaid Waivers all work together for benefit of the individual at the center of the plan.
To help explain how all these planning steps work together, you will hear us use a freight train analogy. The engine is the person-centered plan. It pulls the whole train! The engineer is the person at the center of the plan who determines the train’s route and the cargo in the box cars. The engineer also gets to decide where the train goes and its travel schedule! But…. if the engine does not do its job properly everything behind it is…. sort of…. pointless. The train never leaves the station!
Medicaid waivers are a critical component of the person-centered plan because they provide the bridges, switches, and the special side rails necessary for the engine to travel its route and fulfill the engineer’s goals.  All Medicaid waivers provide similar benefits but a few of them provide unique “side rails” that allow an engineer with more challenging circumstances achieve a fully engaged self-determined life! This is information YOU NEED TO KNOW!
Today we will speak about the Michigan “State Plan” (aka 1915b), and the MI Habilitation Supports Waiver (Hab Waiver) in addition to the SIS, the PCA and the PCP (what would we ever do without acronyms?)  We hope today’s podcast will help you make the best use of these tools, because it is all about providing engineers the opportunity to live a fully engaged and self-determined life.