Choice and Olmstead

LTO Ventures has released a new report about the debate over Community Living, proposed HCBS Waiver changes, and the impact on housing for adults with intellectual disabilities and autism.

The report examines the public comments submitted in response to the publication of the proposed new rules in the Federal Register.

Efforts by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) since 2009 to redefine under the Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Waiver what constitutes “community living” and “home and community-based” settings threaten to severely constrain choice and access to funding that could result in disastrous public policy that reverberates for decades.  An estimated 25 percent of existing eligible residential settings would not meet the new CMS criteria, and tens of thousands of disabled individuals could be forced out of their residences.

Read the LTO Ventures' Press Release here.

Read the complete “Choice v. Olmstead” report here.

VOR shares these concerns. VOR submitted comments expressing our concern regarding a proposed federal definition of "community" on June 1, 2011 and August 27, 2009.