What's New
Virginia Easy Access Launched
The Secretaries of Health and Human Resources and Information Technology have launched a new website that brings together resourcesone spot. Virginia Easy Access is a web portal that allows seniors, adults with disabilities, and their caregivers to access information about providers and other supports in the com for long term supports by allowing people to access them in munity. Housing, transportation, and emergency preparedness are also included. The web portal is supported by VirginiaNavigator and 2-1-1 Virginia. You can search for supports and service by zip code on VirginiaNavigator and call or e-mail questions to 2-1-1 to find out more information. To access the Virginia Easy Access website, please visit: http://easyaccess.virginia.gov/
An MFP Housing and Transportation Resource Bank has recently been added to this website. The resource bank includes information about how individuals can access housing and transportation, and the work that is being done to increase available, affordable and accessible housing and non-Medicaid transportation in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
- Money Follows the Person Project Brochure.
- Transition Coordinator Provider Agency List.
- Operational Protocol Approved; Project Begins July 1.
- "Transition Coordination: Nuts and Bolts" Training Presentation Now Available.
- Money Follows the Person Appendix to DMAS Provider Manuals Now Available.
- Money Follows the Person Emergency Regulations In Effect.
- Introduction of Money Follows the Person (MFP) Memo.
Welcome to Virginia’s Money Follows the Person Website!
Virginia is one of 31 states participating in a five-year, $1.75 billion Money Follows the Person (“MFP”) Demonstration project designed to create a system of long-term services and supports that better enable individuals to transition from certain long-term care institutions into the community. This project supports Virginia’s Olmstead initiative and complements the efforts of the recently awarded Systems Transformation Grant that aims to improve the infrastructure for community-based long-term supports. Virginia’s MFP project, administered by the Department of Medical Assistance Services, will make over $28 million in federal Medicaid funds available to support Virginia’s seniors and individuals with disabilities.
The “MFP” project is now underway. The “Operational Protocol” serves as Virginia’s program manual or Guidebook for the project. This Guidebook has been approved by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. You can access the Guidebook here.
Virginia’s MFP project permanently adds services and supports to select home and community-based Medicaid waivers. The following chart illustrates the waiver services added as a result of the MFP Demonstration Project:
| Waiver | Waiver Service to be Added |
|---|---|
| Elderly or Disabled with Consumer Direction (EDCD) | Environmental Modifications* Assistive Technology* Transition Coordination Transition Services |
| HIV/AIDS (AIDS) | Environmental Modifications* Assistive Technology* Transition Services |
| Technology Assisted (TECH) | Personal Emergency Response System Transitional Services |
| Individual and Family Developmental Disabilities Supports (DD) | Transition Services |
| Mental Retardation (MR)/Intellectual Disability | Transition Services |
*Please note that these services will only be available to MFP Participants as of July 1, 2009.
Transition services and transition coordination are new services.
- Transition services are for up-front household expenses for people moving from a provider-operated living arrangement to a private residence.
- Transition coordinators assist individuals in moving out of institutions.
Individuals who choose to participate in the MFP project may also be able to access:
- Supplemental funds for home modifications that exceed $5,000; and
- Temporary rental payments while home modifications are being completed.
Planning is underway for Consumer-Directed Supported Employment, which provides a consumer-directed option for individual supported employment services, to be added to the MR/ID, DD, and Day Support Waivers later.
To participate in the MFP project, you must:
- Have lived for at least six (6) consecutive months in a nursing facility, an intermediate care facility for individuals with mental retardation/intellectual disabilities, or a long-stay hospital licensed in Virginia, which can include periods of hospitalization;
- Be a resident of the Commonwealth of Virginia;
- Be Medicaid eligible for at least one month at the time of discharge;
- Qualify for one of the five following waiver programs:
- Elderly or Disabled with Consumer-Direction Waiver (EDCD)
- Individual and Family Developmental Disabilities Support Waiver (DD)
- HIV/Aids Waiver (AIDS)
- Mental Retardation Waiver (MR)
- Technology Assisted Wavier (TECH); and
- Move to a “qualified residence.” A qualified residence is: 1) a home that you or your family member owns or leases; 2) an apartment with an individual lease, with lockable access and egress, that includes living, sleeping, bathing and cooking areas over which you or your family has domain and control; or 3) a residence in a community-based residential setting in which no more than four (4) unrelated individuals reside.
Please check this site frequently for updates!
