Autism Waiver Provider Meeting, Hot Springs: Introduction
Thursday, January 7, 2010 (Note: Parent meeting content reported to be same. I had a babysitting emergency and could not attend.)
Church of the Nazarene, Hot Springs, AR 3:30-5:00, January 7th 2010
Presented by Karan Burnette of UAMS Partners for Inclusive Communities and AAROC
Karan Burnette gave the presentation with PowerPoint slides for key information. The purpose of the presentation was to cover two items, to present the new autism intervention waiver and to collect feedback for the Autism Task Force. There were about 20 people, with a few parents attending the provider meeting.
Karan started with recent history of the public concern about autism, with this serious developmental disability now affecting 1:110 children, according to a 2009 CDC survey. Karan pointed to other states' success with Early Intensive Behavioral Inteventions, or EIBI. EIBI has had great success in treating autism, according to this 1998 Behavioral Interventions article:
Karan also said that the study pointed to more hours being better, with children receiving even up to 40 hours a week continuing to show improvement. (The study in the link looks at several autism studies, including the famous Lovaas program of intensive ABA treatment for at least 30 hours a week, a program that began on children prior to age 6.)
Karan then turned to the Arkansas history on medical autism funding. In 2007 AR Act 1198 required DHS to seek an autism Medicaid waiver. The 2009 tobacco tax allocated about $1,500,000 to fund the current autism waiver. DHS is holding the actual funds, but Partners for Inclusive Communities is responsible for developing the actual waiver.
The approval process for the new autism waiver, after it’s been written by Partners, is to have it submitted to Central Medical Services of the U.S. Government. After about 60 to 120 days the document should be approved, and then DHS will promulgate it.
July 1st 2010 would be an optimistic start date for the program, but something should be in place by the end of 2010. Partners is looking primarily to Wisconsin and South Carolina as a model for the autism Medicaid waiver. (I’ll write more on these two states’ programs in the near future.)