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News Release

HHS APPROVES NEW HAMPSHIRE PLAN TO ALLOW
FAMILIES OF DISABLED CHILDREN TO DIRECT SERVICES

HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today approved a New Hampshire plan to give families with Medicaid-eligible disabled children greater control of the care and services their children receive. This change will make it easier for those children to remain in their own homes.

The New Hampshire waiver is the first of its kind under HHS' new Independence Plus initiative, which makes it easier for states to apply for waivers that give consumers more control of home- and community-based services through the state's Medicaid program.

"Through this waiver, we are helping parents arrange for their disabled children to get the services they need in their own homes," Secretary Thompson said. "Families will be able to play a much more active role in planning, obtaining and managing needed care and services that their disabled children need. As part of President Bush's New Freedom Initiative, we will continue to help states like New Hampshire to implement creative solutions that allow people with disabilities to live fuller, more independent lives."

Earlier this year, HHS' Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) created two Independence Plus waiver templates to help states develop programs for family- and individually-directed community services. The templates are designed to help states promote self-directed care and offer them tools to design programs that enable participant choice and independence.

The New Hampshire waiver will help coordinate services and provide enhanced services, including personal care, respite care and home and vehicle modifications, for eligible children with developmental disabilities. Families will be involved in planning all aspects of service delivery, including the selection of service providers. A "support broker" and a financial management service will assist families and individuals with the self-directed process and deal with payroll tasks.

The Independence Plus initiative helps states achieve the goals established in President Bush's New Freedom Initiative, which is intended to ensure that all Americans have the opportunity to live close to their families and friends, to live more independently, to engage in productive employment and to promote community life.

Programs approved under the initiative will delay institutional or other high cost out-of-home placement by strengthening supports to families or individuals, facilitate cost-effective decision making by families, and aid states in meeting their legal obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Supreme Court's Olmstead ruling which encourages appropriate community placement for persons with disabilities.

"Allowing persons with disabilities and their families to engage in 'self-direction' is a high priority for the Bush Administration," said Tom Scully, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the agency that oversees federal health insurance programs.

As former governors, President Bush and Secretary Thompson have made it a priority to make it simpler for states to submit Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Program waiver requests and to initiate new programs such as Independence Plus. Since January 2001, HHS has approved waivers and plan amendments that have expanded eligibility to more than 2 million people and enhanced benefits for more than six million people.

Additional information regarding federal support of self-direction options can be obtained at www.cms.hhs.gov/independenceplus.

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Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at www.hhs.gov/news.

Last Revised: December 16, 2002