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District of Columbia Health Services not helping the disabled


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<br />Today I called Alice Anderson 12 times and she did not answer my phone calls. Micelle Hawkins received the email of my in take application and both of my doctors letters and I am confident that things will work out for me soon and I will be fine. I heard that Micelle Hawkins received a call from Alice Anderson returning Micelles call to her about receiving the application and the doctor's letters. Ed sent the Email and Micelle Hankins received the application and my Doctors letters. All in all Luke and I our so happy that this is done and now we will hear from either Alice Anderson or Micelle Hawkins. Its been a week that the fax machine was down and we had to send a Email to Micelle Hawkins to get this done finally and we are all happy

 

I received a response from Mrs. Hawkins

 

We need:

 

Birth Certificate (copy)

Proof of District of Columbia residency(DC identification card, and utility or phone bill, etc)

Any additional documents before 18th birthday (IEPs, medical records, etc) –We can do developmental history w/someone who knew him before 18

Psychological evaluations administered before the 18th birthday

Current psychological evaluation

Proof of health insurance for the person in need of services (i.e., Medicaid, private) – Your stated he was not eligible for Medicaid because of income from deceased Dad.

Social Security Card (copy)

Current physical exam (form enclosed)

 

 

You will be assigned an intake service coordinator. They will call and send you a letter with a face-to-face appointment. You can bring in as many documents that you can obtain at that time.

 

It is interesting to note that the District of Columbia agencies do not share information in one database or contact each other when information is needed.

 

We already gave this Information to the DC DMV, DC DHS, Eckington Service Center. That is why the disabled fall through the cracks to get money that was already granted.

 

Will nationalized Healthcare be the same way.

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Guest LAW_*

Interesting read. This leads to case in point.

 

********************************************************************************

*****************

 

Mayor Fenty Introduces Legislation to Improve Information Sharing Among Health and Human Services Agencies

 

Reforms aimed at implementing more impactful service delivery for vulnerable residents of the District

 

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the Fenty administration announced the introduction of the Jacks-Fogle Family Preservation Case Coordination Authorization Act of 2009, aimed at enhancing inter-agency information sharing in an effort to prevent tragedies, like the Banita Jacks case.

 

This legislation will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the District’s service delivery system by permitting the exchange of information between and facilitating more effective coordination among human services agencies.

 

“We are making bold improvements to District law in response to this tragedy, which made a lasting impact on our community,” said Mayor Fenty. “The Jacks-Fogle tragedy is one we never want to repeat, and this legislation is an important step in reforming our system.”

 

Current local health and human services agency laws are far more restrictive and cumbersome than what is allowed under federal law. Specifically, the District's local confidentiality statutes are far more conservative than federal law in terms of what type of information sharing is allowed between local agencies for the purposes of coordinated client services. This legislation revises the local statutes to align with the federal privacy laws (HIPPA and FERPA) for those specific agencies involved with the Jacks-Fogle tragedy.

 

“The Jacks/Fogle legislation represents the cornerstone of the future of the District’s human services system,” said Clarence Carter, director of the Department of Human Services. “Information sharing, case coordination and functioning as part of a multi-disciplinary team for the well-being of District residents will allow the District government to more effectively and efficiently meet the individual needs of residents.”

 

The legislation will fully comply with federal HIPPA regulations and allow relevant information to be shared between the health and human services agencies’ programs. This sharing of information will improve the coordination of services, leading to more impactful service delivery. The Jacks-Fogle legislation will be phased in beginning during the next fiscal year with a focus on the most at-risk youth and families.

 

"Protecting the District's most vulnerable children, youth, and families demands a community-wide response,” said Roque Gerald, director of Child and Family Services Agency. “This legislation provides greater insight into multiple public agencies serving the same families, and is a large step forward in improving coordination."

 

In February, the District implemented new policies and systematic reform initiatives that not only improve youth and family services, but also enable effective communication among government agencies. This legislation will improve on the following reform initiatives:

 

• State Longitudinal Education Data System (SLED) - Created the SLED system to track attendance records for all public and public charter students, as well as all students placed in non-public programs. The program will reconcile the students that leave school to be homeschooled, and will identify why a student has left a particular school.

 

• Truancy Reduction – Designated two staff persons in each school to receive truant students brought in by MPD. Under this model, students are returned to the classroom sooner and are engaged in attendance-related intervention at the local school level, facilitating a partnership between, schools, students and families.

 

• DC START – Created DC START, a school-based early intervention pilot program that includes services designed to address many issues that a young student might face including anger, depression, anxiety and alcohol and other drug issues.

 

• Gateway to Services Family Self-Assessment – Implemented a new assessment tool for homeless families. When a homeless family presents at Intake, case managers will work with each member of that family to identify all of their needs and link them to the benefits, goods, and services that can enable them to move beyond homelessness.

 

• Children at Risk - The CHARI (Children At Risk) application functions as a single point of accountability assisting clinicians in ensuring that programmatic milestones are met, monitoring assessment and data collection, and supervising the formulation and implementation of treatment plans.

 

The Jacks-Fogle Family Preservation Case Coordination Authorization Act of 2009 was introduced during the D.C. Council’s June 30th legislative session.

 

“This legislation reflects the hard work and constructive effort by the District to strengthen the safety net for our most vulnerable children and families in the city,” said Attorney General Peter Nickles. “This is an outstanding accomplishment, reflecting the District’s long-standing commitment to providing more efficient human service delivery for residents. I commend all of the relevant agencies for stepping up to the plate and building on the reforms we have implemented, including those recommended to us in the OIG report.”

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Guest Human_*

Law so far the district is doing an incredibly bad job at getting Joe the services that he needs. Unfortunately this case will probably be the Norm as to how the rest of the public will be receiving health care through the government. If for no another reason to show just how badly mismanaged the government system REALLY is.

 

And this is only one case, and then multiplied by 56 million "A real nightmare", and this is not even political "What Joe is going through". Just the way the system works.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Interesting read. This leads to case in point.

 

Mayor Fenty Introduces Legislation to Improve Information Sharing Among Health and Human Services Agencies

 

Reforms aimed at implementing more impactful service delivery for vulnerable residents of the District

 

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the Fenty administration announced the introduction of the Jacks-Fogle Family Preservation Case Coordination Authorization Act of 2009, aimed at enhancing inter-agency information sharing in an effort to prevent tragedies, like the Banita Jacks case.

 

This legislation will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the District’s service delivery system by permitting the exchange of information between and facilitating more effective coordination among human services agencies.

 

“We are making bold improvements to District law in response to this tragedy, which made a lasting impact on our community,” said Mayor Fenty. “The Jacks-Fogle tragedy is one we never want to repeat, and this legislation is an important step in reforming our system.”

 

Current local health and human services agency laws are far more restrictive and cumbersome than what is allowed under federal law. Specifically, the District's local confidentiality statutes are far more conservative than federal law in terms of what type of information sharing is allowed between local agencies for the purposes of coordinated client services. This legislation revises the local statutes to align with the federal privacy laws (HIPPA and FERPA) for those specific agencies involved with the Jacks-Fogle tragedy.

 

“The Jacks/Fogle legislation represents the cornerstone of the future of the District’s human services system,” said Clarence Carter, director of the Department of Human Services. “Information sharing, case coordination and functioning as part of a multi-disciplinary team for the well-being of District residents will allow the District government to more effectively and efficiently meet the individual needs of residents.”

 

The legislation will fully comply with federal HIPPA regulations and allow relevant information to be shared between the health and human services agencies’ programs. This sharing of information will improve the coordination of services, leading to more impactful service delivery. The Jacks-Fogle legislation will be phased in beginning during the next fiscal year with a focus on the most at-risk youth and families.

 

"Protecting the District's most vulnerable children, youth, and families demands a community-wide response,” said Roque Gerald, director of Child and Family Services Agency. “This legislation provides greater insight into multiple public agencies serving the same families, and is a large step forward in improving coordination."

 

In February, the District implemented new policies and systematic reform initiatives that not only improve youth and family services, but also enable effective communication among government agencies. This legislation will improve on the following reform initiatives:

 

• State Longitudinal Education Data System (SLED) - Created the SLED system to track attendance records for all public and public charter students, as well as all students placed in non-public programs. The program will reconcile the students that leave school to be homeschooled, and will identify why a student has left a particular school.

 

• Truancy Reduction – Designated two staff persons in each school to receive truant students brought in by MPD. Under this model, students are returned to the classroom sooner and are engaged in attendance-related intervention at the local school level, facilitating a partnership between, schools, students and families.

 

• DC START – Created DC START, a school-based early intervention pilot program that includes services designed to address many issues that a young student might face including anger, depression, anxiety and alcohol and other drug issues.

 

• Gateway to Services Family Self-Assessment – Implemented a new assessment tool for homeless families. When a homeless family presents at Intake, case managers will work with each member of that family to identify all of their needs and link them to the benefits, goods, and services that can enable them to move beyond homelessness.

 

• Children at Risk - The CHARI (Children At Risk) application functions as a single point of accountability assisting clinicians in ensuring that programmatic milestones are met, monitoring assessment and data collection, and supervising the formulation and implementation of treatment plans.

 

The Jacks-Fogle Family Preservation Case Coordination Authorization Act of 2009 was introduced during the D.C. Council’s June 30th legislative session.

 

“This legislation reflects the hard work and constructive effort by the District to strengthen the safety net for our most vulnerable children and families in the city,” said Attorney General Peter Nickles. “This is an outstanding accomplishment, reflecting the District’s long-standing commitment to providing more efficient human service delivery for residents. I commend all of the relevant agencies for stepping up to the plate and building on the reforms we have implemented, including those recommended to us in the OIG report.”

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  • 2 weeks later...

Joe never received letter from the District. After calling Alice Anderson 41 times he came over to me upset that she will not answer his calls.

 

I decided to use my contact:

 

Michelle Hawkins

Community Outreach Specialist

Intake and Eligibility Unit

202.730-1813

 

Michelle was very pleasant and gave me the number of his new case worker.

 

Irban Scott

202.730-1807

 

 

 

 

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Dear DDS I am not happy with you people because you are not caring about me and I am not feeling well and I have a wisdom tooth that needs to be pulled right away and my stomach hurts all the time and you all seem not to care about my health condition and I am going to call my new social worker today and make an a appointment to get this done so I can feel better and feel good about my life and be happy and not make my family worry all the time and stress about this any more. Do you all understand what I am saying to you people at DDS right now? I am beyond tick off that you all will not really care about people with developmental disabilities like you all say you do and I hope you people prove me that you care about us and will help us people with developmental disabilities a lot because we can not do it on our own DDS. Your friend with developmental disabled learning disability! JOE knight!

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Guest Human

To the Democrats; Thinking here? Post this thread ALL over the net "Including newspapers", and Washington D.C. being the Nations Capitol, and Barack Obama trying to pass Health Care Reform?

 

That by not resolving this case puts a poor spotlight on Barack Obamas Health Care Plan "Since this case is still ACTIVE".

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  • 2 months later...

Here is the latest update on Joe. This is a letter to his former social worker in Montgomery County Maryland.

 

Hi Denise,Joe still has not been accepted in the District's Developmental Disability Program. As you know that his case worker at the Eckington Service Center stated that Joe would have to go through DDS to qualify for his Medicaid. I relayed this message to DDS Supervisor, Alice Anderson, last June. She told me she would expedite the process, but DDS needs information to prove that Joe was mentally disabled before he was 18. At this point we have met twice with Irvin Scott, Joe's case worker. We have filled out all paperwork. Given legal authorization of the DIstrict government to attain all of his records. We have given Irvin Scott, all of his high school and current psychatric evaluations done on Joe while he was living in Maryland. Mr. Scott stated that Joe is borderline mild retarded with an IQ of 70. He needs to be able to prove without a doubt that Joe is mentally disabled. At the end of each meeting Mr. Scott stated that he had all the information needed and he would present his case to his supervisor, Alice Anderson. I sent Mr. Scott an email below last week. My wife, Jenna Mack, contacted Mr. Scott today. He stated that DDS has requested more information. They need a copy of Joe's school records as well. It is my understanding that since we did give the District government legal authorization then they should be able to access this. Being Joe's former social worker in Montgomery County can you give DDS some guidance on how to obtain his school records? Mr. Scott is unable to obtain them. I just want this process to be done. It is causing alot of stress in my family and with Joe. I never thought it would be so difficult for Joe to get his Medicaid transferred. I am CC'ing Mrs. Wilson as well since you corresponded with her this Summer. Thanks again, Luke Wilbur

Here is the message I sent to Joe's current DDSCase worker in the District.

 

Good Afternoon Irvin,Before we departed from our last meeting you stated that you would be going on the behalf of Joe to your supervisor on Thursday, October 22. I would like to know the outcome of that meeting.I do appreciate you going up to bat for Joe. Our priority is that Joe get's proper treatment. He has psycotic ephisodes daily. His sickness is progressing. It has taken me days of explaining tohim about your evaluation of him. I still am not sure he understands. I have told him that you needed to know this information to better guage his mental retardation. His outburst at your meeting was quiteshocking. But, he has now calmed down. I await your response. All the Best, Luke A. Wilbur

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I got this message today from the DC DDS.

 

From: "Scott, Irvin L. (DDS)" <irvin.scott@dc.gov>

Subject: RE: DDS - Joe Knight

Date: Fri, 6 Nov 2009 16:02:29 -0500

 

Mr. Wilbur, in an effort to correct someapparent misconceptions as indicated in your email, please note that the DCDevelopmental Disabilities Administration participates with persons who arediagnosed with Mental Retardation. The Department of Mental Health participateswith persons who are mentally ill. The information that you provided indicatesthat at age 16 while attending the School for Contemporary Education; Mr. Knightrequired a "highly structured behavioral program in a class of no morethat ten students and two adults. Clear limits and consequences for hisbehavior are still necessary supports in order for him to experience success".While references to inappropriate behavior and low frustration tolerance aremade, no references are made to signs and symptoms of mental retardation. Letterswere provided that addresses the results of a neurological evaluation completedon 11/10/81 when Mr. Knight was 10 yrs. old. Dr. Cassidy stated that he "founddifficulty getting a coherent overview of the child's situation. Therehave been long-standing problems in school, and he has been in specialeducation at McKenny Hills for some time". Another physician'sletter states that "that there was no reason to feel that there is anyneurological disease accounting for his problems in adjustment at home, and Iwould recommend some counseling".

 

No psychological evaluations or IndividualEducation Plan (IEP) reports have been submitted to DDA that would support apre-18 diagnosis of Mental Retardation, however; there seems to be support foran unspecified psychiatric diagnosis. The only reference to a diagnosis ofmental retardation was made by Harold I. Eist, M.D. who mentioned it in aletter stating that Mr. Knight was referred to him after a suicide attempt andhospitalization at Suburban Hospital in January 1993.(Mr. Knight would have been 22 yrs. old at the time.) Mr. Knight overdosed onMellaril. Based on his letter it appears that Dr. Eist treated Mr. Knight forsigns and symptoms of a psychiatric disorder and monitored Mr. Knight'suse of prescribed psychotropic medications (Zyprexa to stabilize manicbehavior). Please note that we try to determine eligibility within a 90 dayperiod, however; this requires that there is sufficient evidence to support adiagnosis of mental retardation. At this time there is no compellingevidence to support a diagnosis of mental retardation. In addition, DDA hasno relationship to whether or not a person receives or is denied Medicaid. Itis the individual's responsibility to apply for Medicaid in his or her homejurisdiction, and DDA is not involved in the process that determines if aperson receives Medicaid. I hope that this information gives you a clear pictureDDA, the status of Mr. Knight's application and the process fordetermining eligibility to participate with DDA programs.

 

 

 

No evidence he says. Then why did Joe have Montgomery County disability benefits all his life? Why does Joe have Medicare?

 

This was my response to DDS.

 

Mr Scott,

 

Thanks for finally writing back. Stating Joe does not have a developmental disability is criminal.

 

What you stated in front of Joe and I was quite different than this email response. Who made this decision?

 

Joe clearly is on the lower scale of mild mental retardation.

 

Youstated that you were the gatekeeper and you had all the paperwork youneeded. You further stated that you were going to pitch Joe's case toAlice Anderson.

During our last meeting you made a copy of the following:

 

Montgomery County Public Schools

Office for Special and Alternative Education.

Diagnostic and Professional Support Team

 

This was done when Joe was 16

 

It was you that explained to me that Mild retardation ranges from 55 to 69

 

Joe's 1980 evaluation yielded a Dated April 1987. This makes Joe 16 at the time

 

WISC-R Verbal IQ of 54

WISC-R Performance IQ of 70

And a full scale IQ of 59

 

Further his report states that he is the age equivalent of a 6 to 9 year old.

 

If you have lost this copy then I can send it back to you. Also, whatr esearch have you done on Joe's behalf? What records did you receive besides the ones I provided you.

I would like all of this documentation.

 

Ifthis is going to be an example of government run health care, then I vote "No." I am going to share this story with anyone that will listen.

 

Regards,

 

Luke

 

This has made Joe upset. I am just getting tired of this fight. This city's stone age government appears to immovable.

I feel sorry for all the others in shelters with no one to help them. Say a prayer for my buddy.

Edited by Luke_Wilbur
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Who is Mr. Scotts' boss??

I think it extremely imprudent to deny Mr. Knight (although he is a kind, loving, decent man) is mentally retarded.

 

Mr. Knight is, by definition, "Mildly Mentally Retarded" (aka "developmentally disabled") according to DSM IV (which is the benchmark in the USA).

That's a fact.

 

John Allen

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  • 1 year later...

FYI...

 

The District, through the Medicaid and Alliance programs, both of which are administered by the

Department of Health Care Finance (DHCF), will continue to provide Health Care coverage to

approximately one-third of District residents.

 

DHCF’s budget continues to reflect the important relationship between the federal and District

governments in financing the Medicaid program.

 

First, DHCF’s budget includes $116,530,822 of projected annual Medicaid funds generated by an

enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP), which was originally enacted by the

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). The District’s FMAP is anticipated

to be enhanced by approximately nine percentage points for the first three quarters of FY 2011.

 

Additionally, the District will seek maximum benefit from the recently enacted federal health care reform package, including the opportunity to transition seamlessly certain Alliance

enrollees to Medicaid. DHCF’s proposed general Medicaid budget therefore includes a $55,581,539 increase in Local funds, which will be matched by $123,943,102 of Federal Medicaid funds; the increase in Local funds budget has been offset by a reduction of at least $57,212,010 in the FY 2011 budget for the Alliance program.

 

The District’s FY 2011 budget reflects the continuing effort of the Child and Family Services

Agency (CFSA) to use federal financial resources. CFSA’s savings to the Local fund through using

federal funds include $532,680 for Medicaid-eligible screening services provided at a CFSA clinic, $2,334,708 for services provided in Medicaid-certified psychiatric residential treatment facilities, and approximately $1.0 million by offering Medicaid-eligible case management services provided by nurses.

 

http://cfsa.dc.gov/DC/CFSA

 

Child and Family Services Agency

 

Office Hours

Monday - Friday, 8 am to 4:45 pm

 

How to Reach Us

400 6th Street, SW

Washington, DC 20024

cfsa@dc.gov

 

Phone: (202) 442-6100

Fax: (202) 727-6505

TTY: 711

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