Ohio Receives Federal Approval To Expand In-Home Care Program for People with Mental or Developmental Disabilities

Ohio received federal approval last week to use Medicaid funds to allow an additional 2,000 people with mental or developmental disabilities to receive care at home or in "home-like settings" instead of in institutions, the Dayton Daily News reports. Under the approved waiver, Medicaid funds can be used to pay for caregivers in either a client's home or in an alternative, community-based setting, such as a group home, Jeff Davis, deputy director for the Ohio Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, said. Gary Tonks, executive director of the advocacy group Arc of Ohio, added that the program expansion will help families who currently care for an adult with a disability in their homes. The program expansion also will help the state reduce the number of poeple waiting to be placed group homes, Davis said. Ohio expects in January to receive federal approval to use Medicaid funds to provide in-home care for an additional 6,500 people in January, the Daily News reports (Zeleznik, Dayton Daily News, 11/27).