Join Us for a Children's Waiver Feasibility Study Focus Group

Invitation to Join Children’s Waiver Feasibility Study Focus Groups

April 3, 2023

Background

The Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services (Cabinet) is leading a study to explore the possibility of serving children with unique needs through a new Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) waiver. The study will look at what to offer in a potential service package for:

• Children with severe emotional disability (SED),
• Children with intellectual disabilities and related conditions (ID/RC), and
• Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

The study will also look at the costs to pay for the waiver. The Cabinet is using consultants from Guidehouse to help with the study.

Participant / Caregiver Focus Groups

We know that stakeholder ideas are key to our work. The Cabinet will hold focus groups for stakeholders such as parents, guardians, and caregivers of children who are home and community-based services participants, children on waiver waitlists, and advocates to get feedback on how to design a potential new waiver for children.

In the focus groups, we plan to talk about the gaps in services and supports for children. We hope to hear from focus groups about ideas to better meet the needs of children with SED, ID/RC, and/or ASD.

Focus groups will be held in person in six cities on the following dates and times. In some locations, focus groups will be held during the day and the evening to increase opportunities for participation.

• Lexington, May 22 from 3-4:30 p.m. Eastern
• Somerset, May 23 from 1-2:30 p.m. Eastern
• Prestonsburg, May 24 from 12:30-2 p.m. Eastern and 5-6:30 p.m. Eastern
• Florence, May 30 from 1-2:30 p.m. Eastern and 5-6:30 p.m. Eastern
• Louisville, May 31 from 1-2:30 p.m. Eastern
• Frankfort, May 31 from 5-6:30 p.m. Eastern
• Owensboro, June 1 from 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Central and 5-6:30 p.m. Central

Each focus group will meet for 90 minutes and be limited to 10 to 12 people. This will give each person in the group time to share thoughts and ideas. The Cabinet will provide the questions to the focus group and details on the location to attendees ahead of the meeting.

If you are interested in being part of a focus group, please send the following information to CHFS.HCBSWorkGroup@ky.gov by 11:59 pm EST on April 23, 2023.

• Your name
• Your email address
• Your role (e.g., waiver participants, caregivers, advocates)
• The location, date, and time of the focus group you’d like to attend

If the Cabinet receives a large response to these focus groups, we will select the participants for each focus group randomly. The Cabinet may lead more focus groups or send out a survey to get additional input. 

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