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This knowledge path about Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment (EPSDT) services in Medicaid has been compiled by the Maternal and Child Health Library at Georgetown University. It offers a selection of current, high-quality resources about providing and strengthening EPSDT services. The path includes guidelines for the frequency, timing, and content of health-promotion and disease-prevention services for infants, children, and adolescents. Separate sections present resources for professionals (health professionals, program administrators, policymakers, and researchers) and for families. A special topics area lists resources about oral health services as part of the EPSDT benefit. The knowledge path will be updated periodically.

What: Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) are disability income benefits administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA) that also provide Medicaid and/or Medicare health insurance to individuals who are eligible. The application process for SSI/SSDI is complicated and difficult to navigate. Nationally, about 37 percent of individuals who apply for these benefits are approved on initial application and appeals take an average of two years to complete. For people who are homeless or who are returning to the community from institutions (jails, prisons or hospitals), access to these programs can be extremely challenging. Approval on initial application for people who are homeless and who have no one to assist them is about 10-15 percent. For those who have a mental illness, substance use issues, or co-occurring disorders that impair cognition, the application process is even more difficult – yet accessing these benefits is often a critical first step in recovery. SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access and Recovery (SOAR) is an approach that helps states increase access to mainstream benefits for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness through: Strategic Planning Meeting(s) to establish collaboration among key state and/or local stakeholders and to develop an action plan for implementing the SOAR approach (e.g. SSA and Disability Determination Services (DDS); State Mental Health Agency and Department of Corrections leadership; and community homeless, health and behavioral health providers). Training of case managers using SAMHSA's Stepping Stones to Recovery curriculum that includes a step-by-step explanation of an improved SSI/SSDI application process. A Train-the-Trainer program allows for expansion and sustainability. Technical Assistance to states and communities including support for action plan implementation, training observations with feedback, and assistance with tracking outcomes in order to document success and help access additional resources.  (SOAR Technical Assistance Center. http://www.prainc.com/SOAR). When/Where: Great Falls SOAR Refresher Course September 23, 2011 & October 28, 2011  9AM – 2PM Largent Building - 915 First Avenue South Great Falls, MT (406) 761-2104 Billings SOAR Training Registration: September 28 & 29 | 8:00 – 5:00 Garfield School – Room 103 3212 1st Avenue South Billings, MT 59102 Great Falls SOAR Training Registration October 13-14, 2011 Largent Building - 915 First Avenue South Great Falls, MT (406) 761-2104 Helena SOAR Training Registration November 1-2, 2011 Disability Determination Services 2550 Prospect Avenue Helena, MT 59601

The Achieving a Better Life Experience Act (ABLE) of 2011 (S. 1872/H.R. 3423) was introduced on November 15 in the 112th Congress (2011-2012 Congressional cycle). The bill is being led by a bipartisan, bicameral set of Congressional champions, including Senator Robert Casey, Jr., (D-PA), Senator Richard Burr (R-NC), Congressman Ander Crenshaw (R-FL), Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA). The ABLE Act will give individuals with disabilities and their families the ability to save for their child's future just like every other American family, and help people with disabilities live full, productive lives in their communities without losing benefits provided through private insurances, the Medicaid program, the supplemental security income program, the beneficiary’s employment, and other sources. The account could fund a variety of essential expenses for individuals, including medical and dental care, education, community based supports, employment training, assistive technology, housing, and transportation.

I am a person with a disability, and have been since age 16 when a wrestling injury left me paralyzed from the shoulders down. I have a master's degree, a full-time job and yes, I'm one of more than 8.7 million Americans with a disability who rely on the long-term health care services provided through a government program called Supplemental Security Income, or SSI.

A $7.7 million federal grant is being used to expand mental-health services in Montana and Wyoming where there is a severe shortage of psychiatrists and therapists.A Sacramento-based company, HealthLinkNow, received the three-year grant last year from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Innovation Awards, a federal program designed to underwrite promising new models of health care delivery.

Montana’s mental health safety net is full of holes.Stigma, lack of insurance, Medicaid restrictions and a shortage of mental health professionals all contribute to the “state of despair” that reporter Cindy Uken has been detailing in a Billings Gazette series on suicide. The state’s suicide rate — the highest among the 50 states and double the national average — is cause for alarm. Yet it isn’t the only terrible symptom of Montanan’s mental health care gap.

In 2009, the Developmental Disabilities Program (DDP) within Montana’s Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) began the Children’s Autism Waiver (CAW) as way to provided intensive (20 hours a week), applied behavior analysis to young children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and their families. The Medicaid waiver program is state-wide and provides services for 50 children at a time. The first cohort of children who have completed the services have just exited. As part of the exit procedure, a comprehensive evaluation was completed.

When Medicaid twice denied a SleepSafe Bed for Mikayla Wisher, her family, friends, community and many strangers stepped up. Mikayla Wisher is a 21-year-old Kalispell woman who can neither speak nor walk and who suffers multiple seizures and uncontrolled movement, Sabrina Wisher, Mikayla’s mom, said she was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love . “Strangers [have been] coming up to me and giving me hundreds of dollars,” she said. “The community and my family and friends have been huge.”

Medicaid officials have agreed to release long-awaited rules for a new program designed to expand community living, caving to pressure after disability advocates blocked all of the entrances to their building.

In particular for families of children with disabilities, Thursday's Supreme Court ruling upholding most of the Affordable Care Act may come as a huge relief. Other government health insurance programs, including Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, have filled some of the gaps in health insurance coverage for people with disabilities before the health care law, but they didn't go far enough.

In New Hampshire, Medicaid pays for in-home care for nearly all of its residents with developmental disabilities. For frail elders, the opposite is true. Most wind up in nursing homes. To remedy this imbalance, New Hampshire is taking advantage of Affordable Care Act funding for a program aimed at removing existing barriers to providing long-term care in people’s homes and communities. Known as the Balancing Incentive Payments Program, it is one of several ACA provisions designed to keep as many people as possible out of costly institutions. Arkansas, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Texas are also participating in the $3 billion incentive program.

With significant public backing and support in Congress, advocates say federal lawmakers are poised to consider a major change to the money-saving abilities of those with disabilities. Just one hurdle remains before Congress is expected to take up the Achieving a Better Life Experience, or ABLE, Act. The bill — which has lingered since at least 2009 — would establish special accounts to allow people with disabilities to save up to $100,000 without risking their eligibility for benefits like Social Security. What’s more, under the plan, individuals could retain Medicaid no matter how much is deposited.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the "Affordable Care Act," or "ACA") (P.L. 111-148) is expected to expand health care coverage to an additional 32 million individuals through a combination of new health insurance marketplaces (formerly referred to as exchanges) and a state's option to expand Medicaid. In addition, the ACA includes a number of critical protections for consumers or beneficiaries, as well as provisions to improve the quality of care while bending the curve of health care costs.

This knowledge path about child and adolescent health insurance and access to care has been compiled by the Maternal and Child Health Library at Georgetown University. It offers a selection of current, high-quality resources that analyze data, describe effective programs, and report on policy and research aimed at advancing health coverage and improving health care access for children and adolescents. Emphasis is placed on Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Separate sections present resources for professionals (health professionals, program administrators, policymakers, and researchers) and for families. A special topics section presents resources that address health reform, outreach and enrollment, and school-based and school-linked care. This knowledge path will be updated periodically.

The Senate Finance Committee worked for eight days to amend Chairman Baucus’ Mark. In sum, close to 150 amendments were considered by the Committee on topics that included affordability, the public option, Medicaid expansions, private insurance market reform, and many more. Please join Families USA this Friday, October 9th at 3 PM, to demystify the Senate Finance mark-up.

State public benefits agencies increasingly rely on their website as a means of providing information to the public, and as a means of applying for Medicaid, Food Stamps, and cash assistance. Cary LaCheen’s new report, discussing the findings from web accessibility research of state and some local public benefits agency web sites in California, Florida, Michigan, New York, and Texas, describes a host of problems that make it difficult or impossible for people with disabilities to apply for benefits online, request an application, search the website, or contact the agency by email, and for anyone to find basic information on how to apply for benefits.

Olivia Welter is 20 years old and gets all this life-saving medical care through a program provided by Illinois' Medicaid program. But it's a program for children. And when Olivia Welter turns 21, at the stroke of midnight on Nov. 9, she is no longer eligible for that care.