West Virginia IDD Waiver Application Halves Respite Care Hours

On May 8, 2015, West Virginia Medicaid submitted a renewal for its Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) home- and community-based services (HCBS) waiver; the state made a number of changes to the waiver to help the program operate within its budget, including cutting daily respite care hours from 4.75 hours to 2.5 hours. The Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) Bureau for Medical Services (BMS) said the changes were needed because since 2010 costs to serve the more than 4,500 beneficiaries receiving IDD waiver services have increased by 25%, from $270 million in 2010 to . . .