According to a recently published research brief from the Community Living Policy Center at Brandeis University,
Iowa's Money Follows the Person
(MFP) program ranks third in the nation for transitioning people with Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities (I/DD) from facilities into community settings.
H. Stephen Kay wrote the brief, titled, "Evidence for the Impact of the Money Follows the Person Program."
Kray's full report is available on the Community Living Policy Center
website
.
Iowa's No. 3 national ranking for I/DD transitions also was featured in the January 2020 issue of AUCD 360, a publication of the Association of University Centers on Disabilities.
Since 2008, Iowa has operated a federally funded MFP grant to assist members residing in qualifying facilities with moving to an integrated community setting of their choice.
To date, Iowa has transitioned 758 members from facilities into community based settings using MFP funding.
This equates to about 2 percent of the state's institutionalized I/DD population is transitioned into community based settings annually, which ranks Iowa in the top three nationally, according to Kay.
According to Kay, North Dakota and Arkansas ranked higher than Iowa with 2.16 and 2.04 average annual transitions per 100,000 population, respectively. States ranking in the bottom tier of the list average 0.10 or less transitions per 100,000 population annually, according to Kay.
In order to be placed on the referral list in Iowa, MFP applicants must have documentation that they will be eligible for either the Brain Injury (BI) or Intellectual Disability (ID) waivers upon completion of the MFP. This includes having a BI diagnosis or, for members that will access the ID Waiver, having a copy of a current psychological evaluation that includes a diagnosis of an ID.
In December 2019 federal legislation was passed that provided additional funding for the MFP to continue through December 31, 2021. With this news, Iowa is now accepting new referrals.