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Legislative
Summary May 2004 |
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NAMI-Madison County Legislative Update (Updated May 20, 2004) |
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URGENT: Save Supported Housing
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Supported Residential Housing for people with mental illness is in
danger!
SUPPORT HB 5000H.
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Supported Residential Housing for
people with mental illness is in danger right now. The
IL Dept. of Human Services is still not convinced that
it takes more than fees for services to run supportive housing.
This could set a
dangerous
precedent for all supportive housing. Supportive
housing services for individuals with mental Illness could be closed
throwing individuals into homelessness. |
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Here's
the deal. The Illinois Dept. of Human Services has decided that
Supported Residential Housing should go to a
Fee-for-Service arrangement beginning this coming July 1,
2004 with no grant funding going to it. |
| This is a problem for several reasons, which all come
down to this: there will not be enough funding coming from the state
to operate this kind of supportive housing.
Supported Residential housing represents 273 units for 273 people with
mental illness. All of this housing
would be endangered under this kind of funding situation. All
Supported Residential housing that exists in the state and all future
housing of this kind is in jeopardy. There
needs to be at least some grant funding for this kind of supportive
housing to work.
If Residential Housing goes to a fee for service basis, many of the
services now provided which are not billable (e.g., social,
recreational) would disappear. |
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Madigan's special committee is scheduled for a hearing May 19, 2004! |
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weeks and because of Rep. Julie Hamos' questions at a House hearing
held last week, DHS agreed to reconsider how to fund Supported
Residential Housing. So it is back up for discussion. |
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Speaker of the House Michael J. Madigan's
special committee
is
scheduled to review the Administration's proposal on converting the
state's MI/DD/ASA services to Fee-For-Service at a hearing
May 19, 2004 at the Capitol.
See Committee Action for more details. |
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Governor Blagojevich's
Proposal
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Governor
Blagojevich
in his recent budget proposal
recommends converting the community mental health system from the current
grant arrangement to a
Fee For Service (FFS) and competitively bid
Request for Proposal (RFP) model. The new system is referred to as MAX
(Maximize Accountability and Access). |
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There is general consensus that the new system is
not a bad one, but the speed with which the Governor wants it implemented is
potentially devastating. To put it in perspective, many advocates view the
proposals as the biggest threat to disabled children, adults and their
families since de-institutionalization.
It is estimated that
implementation of the Governor's
proposal will reduce mental health services by 25%. Providers cannot
absorb a 90 day delay in payment, and covered services have not been defined.
HB5000h
is a vehicle for slowing down
the process proposed in Gov. Blagojevich's 2005 budget which would implement a
Fee For Service
payment plan for providers such as Chestnut Health Systems, Community
Counseling, Comprehensive Mental Health, etc. effective July 1, 2004.
The concern is that putting the Governor's proposal into effect in July could
have disastrous results on the delivery of services for mentally ill clients.
HB5000h in its present
form provides that the Dept. of Human Services may initiate a 2 year pilot
project to phase in the improvement of delivery of community-based services by
contract, which will:
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1. increase the
number of service contracts open to a competitive selection
process. |
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2. increase the
number of programs contracted on a fee-for-service basis. |
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3. attract more
federal Medicaid matching dollars |
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4. utilize
performance-based contracts in the provision of such service. |
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What can you do to help?
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1. Contact your
Representative.
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2. Ask for support of HB
5000h.
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3. If support is
offered, ask your Representative to serve as
co-sponsor for HB 5000h.
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Madigan's special committee is scheduled for a hearing May 19, 2004!
see Committee Action
ALL
NAMI-IL MEMBERS ARE ASKED TO COMMUNICATE WITH THEIR LEGISLATORS TO EXPLAIN
OUR CONCERNS AND ASK THAT THEY SUPPORT HB 5000h.
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Capitol Complex Telephone
Numbers
Information Desks
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State House |
217-782-2099 |
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Stratton Building -
North Wing |
217-782-6545 |
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Stratton Building -
South Wing |
217-782-6445 |
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Sample Letter:
ADVOCACY Letter HB5000h
Find Your Legislator:
Click Here |
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