Transcript - slide 4

Interviewer:  Are there eligibility requirements to receive services from your program, Danny?

Danny Cowart:  Yes, for the person to be eligible for the waiver or any Waiver Services from any provider in Mississippi, they have to be deemed eligible by a regional center. There are five regional centers, which house the D&E [Diagnosis & Evaluation] teams. Those D&E teams would then test them and give them a diagnosis of some level of MR/DD. After that takes place, they would be offered the option of receiving home and community-based services.

In Mississippi, we have a waiting list, which is a relatively new phenomenon, because the state came in late in the waiver. But from what I know, most states have a waiting list. They would be placed on a waiting list after being deemed eligible by one of the regional centers. After they have made the waiting list, [they] come to a point where there is a payment slot. [This] is the term used to identify that they have the ability to receive [services paid for by] Medicaid.

They will [then] be assigned a Support Coordinator. A Support Coordinator is like a Case Manager. That Case Manager, or Support Coordinator, would be responsible for making sure that they have a developed Plan of Care through Medicaid and to find service providers to deliver those services that they have requested on their Plan of Care. Mill Creek is one service provider in the state of Mississippi. An individual that has received a Plan of Care and is eligible through those requirements to receive services [is] supposed to receive a choice of service providers.

I think that is a link between what a waiver should be, as far as best practices, and what a waiver actually is. A service provider can choose to deliver those services in a manner that meets minimum standards, [and] minimum standards do not require that best practices are met.

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