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The New Freedom Initiative is the President's comprehensive plan to reduce barriers to full community integration for people with disabilities.

Also today, Secretary Thompson unveiled two new waiver templates that will help states better use the Medicaid program to enable people with disabilities to choose services in their own homes and communities, and he announced that HHS is making information on available technical assistance on community-integration issues more readily accessible through a new Web-based resource.

"It has been a groundbreaking year since President Bush announced the New Freedom Initiative," said Secretary Thompson. "Never before have so many federal agencies devoted so much time and attention toward eventually eliminating the barriers that keep people with disabilities from enjoying the freedoms that so many of us take for granted. These barriers have been years in the making and will take much effort to address, but we are fully committed to the task."

HHS' new "Independence Plus" waiver templates will give states tools to create programs that will allow people with disabilities and their families to decide how best to plan, obtain and sustain community-based services, placing control into the hands of the people using the services.

The electronic templates will provide guidance to states on how to develop these programs within existing federal requirements using a streamlined application process, which will ultimately result in faster federal approval of state proposals. Similar programs have been shown to promote cost-effective and flexible solutions for care while meeting the individual needs of people receiving services.

"Having the opportunity to make choices about our health care and where we live is something that may sound simple, but far too often, people with disabilities don't have that opportunity," said Secretary Thompson. "We are committed to working with the states to develop innovative programs that will trust families to make the decisions about the services they need to help keep their loved ones at home."

The waiver templates recognize the essential role of the family or individual in planning for and purchasing health care services while, in many cases, delaying placing the individual in an institution or other high-cost out-of-home facility. The templates fulfill just one of the commitments that HHS made to promote community integration in the report "Delivering on the Promise," which Secretary Thompson delivered to the President on behalf of nine federal agencies in March of this year.

The templates were developed by HHS' Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the federal agency that administers the federal-state Medicaid program. More information will be available soon at www.cms.hhs.gov.

The administration's "Progress Report on Fulfilling America's Promise to Americans with Disabilities" provides an overview of the administration's accomplishments through the first year of the New Freedom Initiative and provides a look at some of the next steps to come, including a number of commitments from HHS. It is available online at www.whitehouse.gov/newfreedom.

HHS also announced a new Web-based resource to provide states and the public with information on available technical assistance related to community-integration issues. The "Compendium of HHS Technical Assistance Activities Related to the Administration's Community-Integration Initiative" provides one-stop-shopping for information related to the Medicaid program, family caregivers, employment supports for people with disabilities, promoting consumer-driven services and more. It is available at aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/Citarpt.htm and will be updated regularly.

"Delivering on the Promise" outlines more than 400 specific solutions that federal agencies will implement to support community living for people with disabilities. That report and more information on HHS' role and commitments under the New Freedom Initiative are available at www.hhs.gov/newfreedom.

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