In February 2017, DHS notified 500 people that they would be receiving the funding to come off of the waiver waiting list this year. They sent paperwork for each recipient to fill out. In July, they sent another letter.

As of today, barely 250 people have responded, and the rest are in danger of losing their chance to come off the waiting list.

Our state DHS had to request the additional 500 slots from a federal agency, and that agency, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, finally granted it on August 22, 2017. In the meantime, DHS sent another letter this summer in order to reach the rest of the people who have not yet responded. They also began working on plans of care for those who have responded. Once a person responds, it will take 60-90 days to set up the Independent Assessment, the staff required for the plan of care, supplies, and possible residencies. 

If you have already been communicating about your plan of care, you will most likely see some progress in September to October. It is important to note that the federal approval was holding up progress. If you had chosen the company who you’d like to work with, please know that they were only notified as soon as the federal approval came through. You should be hearing from them soon.

 Those of you in the 500 who were notified in February should receive DHS’ final letter in the coming days. If you have not yet responded to DHS about your spot in the top 500, they will also attempt to reach you by phone. If they can’t reach you by phone, they will remove you from the list of 500 and move on to the next people waiting. 

If you have questions about this, you can’t simply call any office. You must call these specific people:

– For the status of applications:
Merinesa Morris
(501) 683-0571

– For all other questions:
Regina Davenport
(501) 683-0575

If you are a person on the waiting list, a caregiver, or a provider of someone on the list, please share this to ensure that this information gets to the correct people.

Here is a copy of the letter that will be going out: