Seven members of the Assembly Aging and Long Term Care committee submitted a letter to the Department of Health Services (DHS) on Friday, December 18th regarding the redesign of the Family Care and IRIS systems. In the letter, they suggest which items they feel are most important for DHS to consider in the redesign.
They emphasize that adequate planning and transition strategies will be necessary to ensure that Wisconsin is prepared to implement Family Care/IRIS 2.0. This includes establishing specific requirements of “readiness” before an Integrated Health Agency can do business in Wisconsin and establishing quality and performance benchmarks.
In the letter, they detail what they think should be included in the plans and contracts.
- They feel that stakeholder engagement is essential. Contracts should specify establishment of advisory committees and a system for consumers to provide feedback that includes information on their quality of life.
- Contracts should require Integrated Health Agencies (IHAs) to collect data to track nursing home admission rates and transition rates from nursing homes to home and community-based settings (HCBS) in order to reduce costly institutional placements and emphasize HCBS for people.
- Performance and program goals should be tied to payments and financial incentives. The state should regularly review quality benchmarks to determine whether or not IHAs are meeting standards and the IHAs should be compensated accordingly.
- Support should be available for eligible individuals including options and enrollment counseling provided by an independent source at no cost and ombudsman services to resolve complaints.
- The Department should ask IHAs questions to determine if they understand how to fully implement self-direction and person-centered planning.
- The state should establish and monitor benchmarks related to increasing the number of people employed in competitive integrated jobs.
- The state should document information on provider numbers and readiness to ensure that services will be delivered by qualified providers.
- The rights of enrollees should be protected including systems to manage incidents and appeals processes (such as the ombudsman program), the ability for enrollees to move from self-direction to directed care and vice versa without being penalized, and flexibility with open enrollment periods when people have a significant change in their care or providers.
- The state should take an active role in ensuring IHAs understand expectations. Quality and performance benchmarks should be monitored to ensure that services are delivered.
Click here to read the full letter.
If you would like to make sure that what is important to you is included in the new Family Care/IRIS 2.0 system, here are some Action Steps that you can take:
- Read the letter from legislators and decide which main points are important to you.
- Take the time to thank the legislators who signed onto this letter.
- Share a link to the letter with your own legislator and write a message about the points in the letter that are most important to you. Tell them how this impacts your life.
- Ask your legislator to contact the Department of Health Services on your behalf to inquire about how their Family Care/IRIS 2.0 plan will address certain points.
You can find legislator contact information by entering your address here (Find My Legislators): http://legis.wisconsin.gov/
