VOR - Please Amend the American Rescue Act to Include ALL People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
Congress is currently working on the American Rescue Act, a $1.9 Billion package that includes, among other item, a provision to grant additional funding to Home and Community Based Services for people with I/DD.
VOR is asking that this funding be given to all people with I/DD, regardless of their setting or the funding stream that pays for their services. We urge Congress to reject choosing winners and losers among people with intellectual disabilities and, instead, to provide relief equitably to all of them.
COVID-19 Hospitalization Form
Your Legal Right To An Intermediate Care Facility
Right To Intermediate Care Facilities for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities (ICFs/IID)
Individuals who qualify for Intermediate Care Facilities for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities (ICFs/IID)* under Medicaid have a legal right to such facilities for as long as they remain eligible and choose to do so. Despite a deinstitutionalization effort by those opposed to congregate care, the ICF/IID program remains a legally enforceable federal entitlement under Medicaid. States which have included ICF/IID in their Medicaid State Plans, but instead offer only Waiver services, are in violation of federal Medicaid law.
VOR's Abuse and Neglect Document
Joint Report from HHS OIG, ACL, and OCR: Group Home Beneficiaries are at Risk of Serious Harm
This report, released in January, 2018 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,' Office of the Inspector General, Administraton for Community Liiving, and Office of Civil Rights acknowledged the systemic shortcomings in protecting residents of HCBS waiver group homes from incidents of abuse and neglect. OIG found that up to 99 percent of these critical incidents were not reported to the appropriate law enforcement or state agencies as required. The report stated, “Group Home beneficiaries are at risk of serious harm. OIG found that health and safety policies and procedures were not being followed. Failure to comply with these policies and procedures left group home beneficiaries at risk of serious harm. These are not isolated incidents but a systemic problem – 49 States had media reports of health and safety problems in group homes.”