Alabama Community Waiver Program Launches, Promoting Independence, Inclusion and Increased Opportunities (2021)
“The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Alabama Medicaid Agency and the Alabama Department of Mental Health (ADMH), Developmental Disabilities (DD) Division have launched a new waiver program in limited areas of the state, with a focus on serving individuals before they and/or their family members are in crisis.
The Community Waiver Program focuses on maintaining family relationships and promoting community inclusion and competitive employment, which are of utmost importance to an individual’s health, well-being and happiness, by providing the needed supports that can enable individuals with developmental disabilities to continue to live with family or in their own homes.
ADMH Commissioner Kimberly Boswell said, “This is a very exciting time for individuals, families, stakeholders, and for the Alabama Department of Mental Health. For many years, we have all worked to make the dream of independence, employment, and full inclusion a reality.”
Boswell continued, “The Community Waiver Program provides the support and structure for us to deliver on the promise of a better life for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. We give special thanks to our staff, Alabama Medicaid, and many partners across the state, for their dedication and hard work.”
In its first year, the Community Program Waiver will serve 500 individuals who will come directly off the waiting list. This will reduce the waiting list by twenty-five percent. Forty-six percent of the individuals on the current waiting list reside in six of the 11 eligible counties: Baldwin, Jefferson, Madison, Mobile, Montgomery, and Tuscaloosa.
The new waiver program will be targeted to serve persons with intellectual disabilities (ID) not currently receiving services through a current Home and Community-Based Services waiver, including persons currently on the waiting list for the existing Intellectual Disabilities or Living at Home waivers.”