CONTACT
Lee Rettig, Communications and Legislative Services, (402) 471-8287; lee.rettig@nebraska.gov
Lincoln – The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has approved the Division of Developmental Disabilities (DD) application for funding for services to Nebraskans with developmental disabilities disrupted by early spring flooding.
Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services for the Developmentally Disabled Waivers, administered by the Division, include funding for residential and day services with specific requirements providers must meet in order to be reimbursed. Many providers in the 81 Nebraska counties declared disasters because of flooding were unable to continue to provide services or to meet those requirements in their normal settings.
Because of the flooding, residential and day services needed to be provided at alternative sites, caps for transportation and assistive technology had to be lifted and timelines for individual service plan and level of care assessments needed to be extended.
The just approved Emergency Preparedness and Response Appendix from CMS allows DD to reimburse the providers for the care they provided in alternative settings, such as hotels and emergency shelters and for retention payments.
“During the flood, many of the individuals we serve were unable to get to day service sites, many service providers were unable to get to individuals and some were able to get to or provide services, but in alternative settings," said Courtney Miller, Division of Developmental Disabilities Director. “This approval allows us pay providers for services they delivered while ensuring health and safety, even though they may not have been able to meet regular waiver requirements."
It's estimated more than 1,800 individuals served by DD and its contract providers were directly or indirectly impacted by the historic flooding event.
“Our providers did a great job of implementing their organizational disaster response plans and working hard to minimize the impact the March flooding had on the individuals we collectively serve," said Miller. “The DD Service Coordination Team really stepped up, as well."