By Mike Shields
KHI News Service

Officials at the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services have scheduled eight meetings around the state to collect public input on the home- or community-based Medicaid services that are provided to people who have suffered traumatic brain injuries.

Currently, 619 people are enrolled in what is called the state’s Medicaid Traumatic Brain Injury Waiver program and are receiving the services, according to KDADS.

The state’s current waiver is due to expire in June and in order to renew it an application must be submitted to federal Medicaid officials by March 31.

KDADS officials said the upcoming meetings would help them collect recommendations from members of the public about what features should be included in the program going forward.

Pushing for changes

At least one group, Advocacy Works, is pushing to have eligibility for the program expanded to include more people.
Diane Woodward, a spokesperson for the organization, has been talking with Kansas policymakers about possible legislation that would broaden eligibility to include children and also allow waiver services for people who have suffered “internally acquired” brain damage from stroke, encephalitis or other maladies.

Eligibility for the program currently is limited to people between the ages of 16 and 65 who have suffered brain trauma from external causes such as traffic accidents or gunshot.

Woodward, a Shawnee resident, is the mother of a 33-year-old daughter who suffered brain damage from encephalitis at age 6 and cycled through the state’s various other Medicaid waivers before qualifying for the TBI waiver in January 2013.

Woodward testified to a Senate Ways and Mean subcommittee earlier this month.

She said it was important to broaden eligibility for the program because currently it is the only waiver that allows for “rehabilitation within the community,” which helps the people who use it get the skills they need to work or otherwise become less reliant on state services.

“The overall goal…is self sufficiency in the individual’s home and community,” Woodward testified.

Meeting schedule

The first meeting scheduled by KDADS is from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Kansas City, Kan. office of the Department for Children and Families, 402 State Ave.

Here is the schedule for the others, one of which is a teleconference:

Topeka

From 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Thursday at the St. Francis Health Center second-floor auditorium, 1700 SW 7th St.,

Conference Call

From 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday. Dial toll-free 866-620-7326. The conference code is 5826736791.

Wichita

Two sessions. From 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and from noon to 1:30 p.m. Friday at the Independent Living Resource Center, 3033 W. 2nd St. North

Kansas City

From 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. on March 4 at the DCF office.

Overland Park

From 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. on March 5 at the Overland Park DCF Office, 8915 Lenexa Dr. Park in the back and enter through the staff entrance.

Topeka

From 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on March 6 at the Shawnee Public Library, Marvin Auditorium, 101AB, 1515 SW 10th Ave