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Do you want to keep the Virtual Visit option with your Service Facilitator?

So do we!

We want to keep you, us and Virginia SAFE.


The Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS) is telling Moms In Motion that without the approval of the Governor and other legislative bodies, in the cases where families do not want us to come see them in person, we will not be allowed to continue to use a video method to conduct our visit. In order to respect the decision of those families that do not want us to visit in-person, Moms In Motion has decided that we will continue with virtual visits as an option through September, and at the same time, we will continue to advocate for DMAS to reverse this decision.


We are concerned for your health, especially with the emergence of the Delta variant of COVID and the inherent risk for our families. Help us to advocate for being able to continue our visits using Telehealth (video methods), as we have been for the past 17 months. We would like this option to continue to be allowed until 6 months after the end of the Federal Public Health Emergency, just like the Appendix K flexibilities that allow parents of minor children and spouses to be attendants.


Please take a few minutes and send letters, send e-mails, & call your representatives. See sample letter below. (We've done the hard stuff for you :) )

  • Governor
  • Governor Ralph Northam, P.O. Box 1475, Richmond, VA 23218
  • Send e-mail via website: HERE
  • Call: 804-786-2211
  • Senators and House Representatives look up: HERE
  • Medicaid
  • Email: HERE
  • Call:(804) 786-7933
  • Mail: 600 East Broad Street, Ste 1300, Richmond, VA 23219
  • Long-Term Care Ombudsman
  • Use Find Your Ombudsman: HERE
  • Encourage others to contact their legislators as well.

Sample Letter:

To: All Virginia Legislators, Gov. Ralph Northam, Press Contacts

Re: Keep People with Disabilities in Virginia SAFE! Telehealth Delivery Method for Services Facilitation Visits 

Dear Legislator,

I receive Personal Care/Respite/ and/or Companion Care through the Consumer Directed (CD) model of the CCC+/DD Virginia Home and Community Based Waiver.  My Service Facilitator meets with me regularly to assist me to administer and troubleshoot challenges with the program (getting my attendants paid, finding attendants, hiring attendants, managing attendants, managing the changing program policies (sick pay, overtime, hazard pay, EVV, etc.)), ensuring my authorizations meet my needs, ensuring my health and safety through their mandated reporter role, and other general program supports.

What

The flexibility to conduct home visits via Telehealth is being extended for some health care services, but not Services Facilitation. It is imperative that Service Facilitators be able to continue to see me using a video Telehealth method in order to keep me safe while the killer COVID virus and Delta Variant are growing exponentially in Virginia.

History of COVID in Relation to Service Facilitation

Since the beginning of the COVID related Federal and State Public Health Emergencies (PHE) in March 2020, many services were allowed the flexibility to be provided via Telehealth. Through Telehealth visits, our Service Facilitator can visually observe us and confirm that our services are meeting our needs, and that we were not at risk of nursing facility placement as a result. 


In May, 2021, DMAS directed Service Facilitators to begin to try to see clients in person, at their homes. At that time, if the families refused this, the Service Facilitators were able to continue to use video Telehealth methods to see us. As per DMAS, as of July 1, when the state PHE ended, so too did the Telehealth flexibility for Service Facilitation. DMAS gave a grace period until Aug. 29, 2021 to make that transition happen.


Over these last two months, my Service Facilitator has asked if I would feel comfortable with a home visit or refuse a home visit and have a telehealth visit instead. I/My loved one have/has a disability or physical health issue that puts me/them at elevated and extreme risk from this virus. I understand that if a Service Facilitator comes to my home, they will likely be seeing 5-10 families in a day, that’s 25-50 families in a week, and therefore, may be carrying the virus from home to home unknowingly. I am not comfortable with this and my legislators should not be either.

Why it’s so important for Telehealth to be Extended

Serving individuals on the CCC+ and DD Waivers is so much more than a yearly authorization. 90% of families prefer to have their visits be virtual, using a video method. If that goes away, then no Service Facilitation provider in the state will be able to provide the support these families need under Consumer-Direction. In effect, anyone who has chosen Consumer-Directed Services will lose their Service Facilitation. As a result, the refusal to allow Telehealth visits to continue will have effectively removed Consumer Direction as a choice for Virginians with disabilities who want it.


American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) recently sent a letter to Governor Northam asking why Telehealth was afforded to certain health care entities for visits and yet others were required to go face to face. AARP pointed out that it seems Virginia has certain policies and procedures that protect some entities and not others. Yet, a service that serves the disabled, the most vulnerable to COVID, is exclusively being held to higher restrictions.


There has to be a change in the allowance of flexibility for Telehealth for Service Facilitation right now! It is imperative that Service Facilitation be included on the list of Telehealth methods of delivery of services. I do not feel safe with having unnecessary visitors to my home now or until COVID, Delta and future unknown variants are adequately suppressed and shown to be suppressed for a consecutive period of time. Six months after the end of the Federal PHE seems reasonable. 


Also, Governor Northam himself has said; “Workers should not have to sacrifice their health and safety to earn a living, especially during an ongoing global pandemic... Virginia has stepped up to protect workers from COVID-19... Keeping Virginians safe at work is not only a critical part of stopping the spread of this virus, it’s key to our economic recovery and it’s the right thing to do.”

In Closing, Call to Action

DMAS’s solution to NOT allow Services Facilitators to conduct Telehealth visits is removing my choice to keep me and my family safe from COVID. Forcing me to have someone come to my home who may be unknowingly carrying the virus from home to home puts me or my loved one, and roughly 22,000 other constituents receiving Waiver Services in the Commonwealth of Virginia, at greater risk of nursing facility or hospital placement.   


What do I need from you? Keep me safe in my home by allowing Telehealth for Service Facilitation. Please allow/encourage DMAS to keep the video Telehealth flexibility for Services Facilitation visits in place at least until other flexibilities tied to the Federal PHE end, the Appendix K flexibilities. Add Service Facilitation to the list of services that can use Telehealth. The Federal PHE is currently slated to end Oct. 22, 2021, and DMAS has the authority from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to extend those flexibilities six months past the end of the Federal PHE, putting the end date of the Appendix K flexibilities at April 22, 2022. 


Thank you for your consideration and assistance,




Lastly, we invite you to join hundreds of others and sign the petition to keep virtual visits permanent. We are stronger together!

Sign The Petition
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