Portals from EPSDT to Adult Supports

NEBRASKA

Grant Information


Name of Grantee

Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services

Title of Grant

Portals from EPSDT to Adult Supports

Type of Grant

Portals from EPSDT to Adult Supports

Amount of Grant

$500,000

Year Original Funding Received

2004

Contact Information


Sharon J. Johnson, Grant Coordinator
402-471-1764
sharon.j.johnson@hhss.ne.gov

Mary Jo Iwan, Administrator
Aging and Disability
301 Centennial Mall South, 5th Floor
Lincoln, NE 68509-5026
402-471-9345
maryjo.iwan@hhss.ne.gov

Subcontractor(s)

Dr. Brad Schaefer
University of Nebraska Medical Center Munroe-Meyer Institute
402-559-6800
gbschaef@unmc.edu

The Parent Training Institute will be a subcontractor under the UNMC-MMI subcontract.

Christine Reed
402-556-5509
breed@mitec.net

Family Voices
800-284-8520

Easter Seals Nebraska
800-471-6425
bkoehler@ne.easterseals.com

Target Population(s)


SSI-eligible youth with physical disabilities or medically complex health needs receiving services from the Aged and Disabled waiver, youth served through the Medically Handicapped Children's Program and SSI-Disabled Children's Program, and parents of these youth.

Goals


  • Increase the effectiveness of the Aged and Disabled waiver to transition youth served by the program to more appropriate adult medical care services.
  • Increase collaboration between tertiary and specialty care providers and community providers in the pediatric and adult health care fields.
  • Increase the capacity of school districts that incorporate medical transition planning into their formal transition process.
  • Increase the capacity of other youth-serving disability programs that provide medical transition services.

Activities


  • Develop an amendment to Nebraska's Home and Community-Based Aged and Disabled waiver to modify the assessment process used for persons transferring from children's services to adult services, to include a medical transition component.
  • Coordinate training for general practitioners so they are ready to serve young adults on the waiver and cultivate relationships between them and pediatric specialists who have been serving these persons in their youth.
  • Implement a pilot project with a rural school district that will integrate medical transition assessment and planning into required transition plans for employment preparation and expand the resulting program statewide.
  • Create a statewide system of transition clinics as part of the Medically Handicapped Children Program's specialty clinics, specifically for SSI-eligible youth as they age out of children's services.

Abstract


The Nebraska Health and Human Services System (NHHSS) will develop a transition project for young adults with disabilities with the ultimate goal of improving access to adult-focused tertiary and specialized medical care for SSI-eligible youth transitioning from early and periodic screening, diagnosis, and treatment (EPSDT) to adulthood.

In Nebraska, the Home and Community-Based Aged and Disabled Medicaid waiver is a lifespan waiver, serving children age 0 to 18, adults age 19 to 64, and elderly persons age 65 and above, with services coordination provided to eligible persons by a different provider for each of the categories described above. For children and youth through age 18, services coordination is provided internally by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, which has local offices around the State. For adults through age 64, services coordination is contractually provided by two regional Centers for Independent Living. Grant activities are focused on the transition between services for these two age groups.

Partners that will work with NHHSS on the project include Nebraska's Medicaid staff working with EPSDT, administrators and staff of the Aged and Disabled waiver, Centers for Independent Living, the University of Nebraska Medical Center Munroe-Meyer Institute, Creighton University, Easter Seals of Nebraska, the Nebraska Department of Education Vocational Rehabilitation Program and Special Education Program, the Social Security Administration, and the North Platte Public Schools.

An infrastructure of training, clinics, and assessment will be developed through this grant that will be sustained as a result of the investment of these partners, creating measurable improvements in the lives of the young adults who will receive their services. Consumers and their families, pediatric specialists and general practitioners, and other relevant youth-serving programs will all be impacted by sustainable changes that will ultimately result in better, more cost-effective care and a higher quality service system for adults with disabilities.