Senior & Disabilities Services

About the CMS Review

Oct. 16, 2009 — Alaska’s Division of Senior and Disabilities Services met a major benchmark for improvement of its four Medicaid waiver programs by a Oct. 15 deadline when staff completed overdue needs re-assessments for program participants.

The waiver programs provide home- and community-based care for Alaskans with serious health needs who would otherwise require care in a hospital, nursing home or other facility.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) placed a temporary hold on new applications to the waiver programs and Personal Care Assistance (PCA) services on June 26 citing concerns about a backlog of annual needs re-evaluations and administrative procedures.

  • CMS lifted the moratorium on PCA services Aug. 12 and on waivers Aug. 28, after working with the Department of Health and Social Services to set a series of improvement benchmarks and deadlines. Those met so far include:
  • Expanding the number of assessors;
  • Updating provider training on how to handle accidents and other critical incidents (and offering it online);
  • Adopting electronic assessment tools to increase efficiency and reduce the chance of errors;
  • Submitting an overall corrective action plan to CMS by Sept. 3;
  • Completing overdue re-assessments for waiver participants by Oct. 15.

The state met the re-assessment benchmark, completing all re-assessments possible. In some special cases, evaluations are still pending. Assessors have also completed more than a third of pending Personal Care Assistance assessments of new applicants and re-assessments of current recipients.

“Senior and Disabilities Services staff members have worked long hours to make this happen, together with applicants, care coordinators and providers who met with employees early, late and on weekends,” Health and Social Services Commissioner Bill Hogan said. “I congratulate and thank them for their efforts on behalf of the Alaskans we serve and their families.”

CMS and the department are now collaborating on approval of the corrective action plan, a process that could take months.

“We’re still at the beginning of long-term improvements,” Senior and Disabilities Services Director Rebecca Hilgendorf said. “We look forward to the day when the changes we’re making to Alaska’s home- and community-based programs pay off in quicker access to strictly monitored, high quality services for the people who need them.”

Providers and Medicaid recipients with questions may contact Angela Salerno at (907) 465-4874, or angela.salerno@alaska.gov.