Posted on March 17, 2009
Chapter 389 (Hannon): This chapter changes the financial eligibility standards for participation in the Care at Home Medicaid Waiver Program. New York’s Care at Home program, created in 1984, is intended to avoid the unnecessary institutionalization of children under 18 years of age whose physical disabilities would otherwise require that they receive care in a nursing facility or hospital. Under prior law, children were deemed eligible to participate in the program if the costs of their care at home did not exceed what it would cost to provide care for them in an institution. Eligibility was thus contingent upon the specific costs of care in either setting, at home or in an institution, for a specific child. This chapter, by authorizing participation in the program based on a statewide aggregate standard as opposed to an individual assurance of cost neutrality, will ensure that more of New York’s disabled children are eligible for care in their homes. Now, seriously ill children who might not have qualified for home care under the program because the costs of their care were too high on an individual basis, may qualify under the aggregate, statewide standard.
This change in law is, furthermore, consistent with changes made to similar programs, such as Bridges to Health for children in foster care, the Nursing Home Transition and Diversion Waiver Program, into which participants of Care at Home may transition, and the Traumatic Brain Injury Waiver Program. New York’s Care at Home program gives families the flexibility to have their children remain at home. This chapter expands that option to even more families, ensuring high quality care in a patient-centered environment. Signed by Governor Paterson on July 21, 2008, this chapter is deemed to have been in effect as of July 1, 2008.
(S.8702/A.11416-A)
