It’s pretty rare for the public to ever get the chance to name a law, let alone a portion of a law or even the terminology used in the description of it.  All of that stuff is usually left to the judges and other Federal personnel in charge of the case, not us, the plebs.

If you have even a second to spare before this Saturday, you can make your voice heard with the terminology change that will soon be occurring with the Medicaid program’s “State Plan Home and Community Based Services” 5-Year period waivers program, which is a fancy name for the Medicaid services you’ll find in certain states that provide 5 year long waivers for eligible recipients (you’ll find this in Colorado).

Well now, they’re going to be changing the CMS definition of “home and community,” which is a huge deal because it describes home base care vs. institutionalized care (and we all know how important having PCA services is, which is what home-based care is).  How many of you reading this need in-home care? (raises hand).  If you receive this kind of service, you should be concerned about the terminology that is ultimately used to describe what you receive.  Now you can have your say.

Visit this link to submit your comment on what you think the new definition of “home and community” should be (for all home and community-based services under 1915(c) HCBS waivers, 1915(i), 1915(j), and 1915(k) Community First Choice).  They will be accepting comments until June 30, 2012.  After that, the page will be closed and the law will move on to the policy makers in the upcoming 2012 – 2013 legislative session.

Words are always important, and definitions even more so.  In the words of my new friend Joshua Winkler, a concerned quadriplegic who told me about this issue in the first place, “We all know institutions have a lot of money and lobbying power, but we have the people who are receiving the care and know best what they consider to be their home and community.”

So true. Submit your comment here