Seeking greater transparency in healthcare, the Amputee Coalition has signed on to the Consortium for Constituents with Disabilities’ (CCD) letter for Ensuring Access to Medicaid Services (CMS-2442-P).
The CCD is the largest coalition of approximately 100 national organizations (including the Amputee Coalition who is a member organization) working together to advocate for Federal public policy that ensures the self-determination, independence, empowerment, integration and inclusion of children and adults with disabilities in all aspects of society.
On June 30, 2023, a letter was addressed to Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on behalf of the CCD. The letter stated that the CCD is incredibly supportive of CMS’s work to seriously address problems with Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) access in the proposed rules. However, they are concerned that many of the proposed provisions will not benefit people with mental health disabilities. Accordingly, to exclude Medicaid state plan rehabilitative services from the proposed Access Rule provisions related to HCBS amounts to excluding people with mental health and behavioral health disabilities from those protections.
Ensuring Access to Medicaid Services (CMS-2442-P) proposes improvements to increase transparency and review of payment rates to protect access in FFS; standardize data and monitoring; amend and add new HCBS-specific requirements to improve access to care, quality of care, and beneficiary health and quality of life outcomes, including payment requirements for certain HCBS; and promote active beneficiary and other stakeholder engagement in states’ Medicaid programs through Medical Care Advisory Committees.
Ultimately the rule proposal will enable the general public to make much more informed medical decisions when selecting a healthcare or managed care plan.
If you would like to view the full letter it is available here. Visit our Advocacy Letters to Policymakers webpage to view other letters the Amputee Coalition has endorsed.