Advocacy Toolkit Available for Implementation of HCBS Settings Rule

A coalition of disability and aging advocacy groups has issued a toolkit to help advocates push for strong implementation of the new Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) Settings Rules in their states. The new HCBS Settings Rules require all settings funded by Medicaid HCBS programs to, among other things, provide opportunities for participants to be integrated in and engage in community life, have access to the community, control their personal resources, and seek employment and work in competitive settings. States have until March 2019 to transition their HCBS programs into full compliance with the new settings requirements. ​

This new toolkit provides advocates with detailed information about the HCBS Settings Rule and provides action steps for advocates to impact implementation of the new rules in their states. The toolkit contains three documents: (1) The Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services Settings Rules: What You Should Know; (2) Home and Community-Based Services Regulations Q&A: Settings Presumed to be Institution & the Heightened Scrutiny Process, and (3) The Home and Community-Based Settings Rules: How to Advocate for Truly Integrated Community Settings (unabridged andabridged). 

The coalition included the the Bazelon Center, American Network of Community Options and Resources, Association of People Supporting Employment First, Association of University Centers on Disabilities, Autistic Self Advocacy Network, Coalition to Promote Self-Determination, Justice in Aging (formerly National Senior Citizens Law Center), Human Services Research Institute, National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities, National Consumer Voice for Quality Long Term Care, National Council on Independent Living, National Disability Rights Network, National Down Syndrome Congress, National Health Law Program, TASH, and The Arc of the United States.