2020 Budget is scheduled for Vote this Thursday, March 12
As a follow up to our urgent request for emails and phone calls to Senators and Delegates for the Virginia Budget, we’d like to thank the advocates who met with their General Assembly members and wrote, emailed, made phones, and much more. We’re very grateful to you! Our voices can be heard, and we can make a difference.
Below are the highlights from the Budget:
- DD WaiverIn Virginia, a collective term for the three types of Medicaid waivers that provide a bundle of support services available to someone with a disability needing assistance with activities of daily living. More<Waiver SlotsJargon for a DD Waiver that has been (or is expected to be) funded by the state, but not yet awarded to a person on the waiver wait list. More – 1,385 Slots (over Biennium)
- Allows up to 16 Hrs. OT for Personal Care Attendants (Consumer-directedServices where the person using them is allowed to select, hire, fire, and train their particular caregiver(s). More)
- Exempts live in caretakers from EVV starting Jan 2021
- New Adult Dental Benefit in Medicaid
- $173 million for Rate Increases, including: Personal Care/Respite/Companion 5% Year 1, 2% Year 2
- Private Duty NursingHourly, skilled nursing care provided in a patient’s home. Private duty nursing provides more individual and continuous skilled care than can be provided in a skilled nurse visit through a home health agency. – 11.6 % increase
- Skilled NursingCare that is provided by a registered nurse or a licensed practical nurse and which may be provided in a skilled nursing facility or in the patient’s home. Skilled nursing care is often necessary as a patient rehabilitates from an illness or injury, but the care provided is above and beyond that which can be provided by certified nursing assistants (CNAs) or home health aides. – 16.1 % increase
- Increases to Community Engagement and Coaching, In-Home, Supp. Living, Sponsored Res, Group HomeHousing arrangement where 3-7 people with disabilities live, staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Homes usually have support staff that rotate around the clock on shifts. More, Group Day …. more details on increases to these services to be released