Virginia Medicaid, Mental Retardation Advocates Reach Agreement on Use of Community-Based Services Waiver

Virginia's Department of Medical Assistance Services and advocates for people with mental retardation have agreed to terms under which the state will provide community-based services under its Medicaid waiver for people with mental retardation, resolving a lawsuit filed in December by the advocates, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports. The suit challenged the state's policy of requiring people with mental retardation to meet "emergency standards" in order to receive services that "should have been routinely available as part of the state waiver program," the Times-Dispatch reports. According to the agreement, the state will "provide all the services that the individual plaintiffs were seeking" in the waiver program, Jill Hanken, a staff attorney for the Virginia Poverty Law Center, which helped represent the plaintiffs, said. The agreement will also "make sure that people who are [covered under] the ... waiver can get all the services they require to reside in the community," Hanken added. The state had imposed the emergency standard qualifications "based on budget restrictions," the Times-Dispatch reports. Approximately 4,910 state residents receive services under the waiver, with another 1,300 on a waiting list. An additional 400 people have been approved, but are waiting for "providers who can meet their needs." The Times-Dispatch reports that a "revamped" mental retardation waiver allowing "consumers and their family to have more direct control over services and the providers they choose to work with" may receive federal approval next week (Smith, Richmond Times-Dispatch, 9/5). For further information on state health policy in Virginia, visit State Health Facts Online.