Personal Independence Commission |
July 1, 2002Missouri State Capitol Lieutenant Governor Joe Maxwell, co-chair, called the meeting to order at 10:30 a.m. MEMBERS PRESENT:
REVIEW OF WHERE WE AREThis meeting the goal is to develop the action plan for the PIC's top priorities. Next month the PIC will begin working on legislative recommendations. We will seek public input and add and subtract ideas. We may be able to move things up the achievability list with the support of the Governor's office and General Assembly. SPENDDOWN DISCUSSIONLt. Gov. Maxwell explained that the PIC cannot do anything right now. The departments will present their reports next month on how to handle the spenddown change and the Commission will give feedback. Legislative and budgetary recommendations around the spenddown issue will be rolled into the larger budget discussion. John Solomon requested a brief explanation of what the change does and who it affects. The Lt. Gov's office will distribute a one-pager to the Commission members. The breakdown of spenddown participants by county was requested. A copy of the state audit will forwarded as well. UPDATE REQUESTSIn addition to updates on the spenddown situation, the Commission requested updates on the Ticket to Work Medicaid buy-in implementation and the Community Counselors package in Senior Services. These updates will be presented at the next meeting. RFP FOR REAL CHOICE DEMONSTRATION PROJECTSRobin Rust reviewed the draft of the RFP for the Real Choice Demonstration Projects. The goal is to identify innovative ideas and practices that will improve community supports and services. The pre-proposal conference will be about two weeks after the RFP is release. An evaluation team will be formed to read the proposals and make recommendations to the PIC. Commission members suggested changes on some of the language, the funding level, and the points for proposal evaluation. A motion was made to approve the RFP and it carried. Related to the Real Choice grant, the Commission requested an update from the Informed Choice Work Group. It was also suggested that an important role of the PIC is to channel innovative thinking and build on successful projects that are already happening in Missouri. PIC BUDGETThe PIC Budget was approved. Mary O'Brien suggested looking for additional funding sources to be able to bring in national resources and expertise. ACTION PLANThe PIC used the top 13 priorities to develop an action plan that identified the product, person responsible, resources and timeline. NEXT MEETINGSThe PIC agreed to meet the second Tuesday of each month. The next meeting will be August 13, at 10:30a.m. The Commission agreed that at each meeting they would: 1)review the progress of the action plan to determine what's done, what needs to be done and what we should add or remove; and 2) bring in outside information and good ideas and respond by either developing an action plan to fix something that's not working or look at replicating successes. PUBLIC TESTIMONYFour individuals testified on the spenddown issue and how it places people with disabilities at risk for institutionalization. They asked the PIC to take action by recommended a transition plan to ensure that people are not forced into nursing homes or forced to choose between food and medicine. Waiting a month to hear from the departments is too late. One woman also testified that we need to have a lead agency monitoring Olmstead implementation and suggested some kind of emergency committee to respond to crises such as spenddown. A motion was made and carried that stated: "The Personal Independence Commission believes the changes in spenddown will negatively impact people's ability to live independently." |
