Header

Main Content

Article

Medicaid Waivers

Indiana Home- and Community-Based Services Waivers

This program allows Indiana Medicaid programs to pay for services that are provided in a person’s home or other community setting, rather than a Medicaid-funded facility or institution. Persons must qualify for institutional care in order to be eligible for home- and community-based services. Waiver refers to the waiving of certain federal requirements that otherwise apply to Medicaid program services. The Division of Aging oversees two waivers; they are the Aged and Disabled Waiver and the Traumatic Brain Injury Waiver.

Aged and Disabled Waiver

The Aged & Disabled waiver provides an alternative to nursing facility admission for adults and persons of all ages with a disability. The waiver is designed to provide services to supplement informal supports for people who would require care in a nursing facility if waiver or other supports were not available. Waiver services can be used to help people remain in their own homes, as well as assist people living in nursing facilities to return to community settings such as their own homes, apartments, assisted living or Adult Family Care.

Traumatic Brain Injury Waiver

The Traumatic Brain Injury waiver provides home- and community-based services to individuals who, but for the provision of such services, would require institutional care. Through the use of the TBI, the Indiana Office of Medicaid Policy and Planning and the Indiana Division of Aging seek to increase availability and access to cost-effective traumatic brain injury waiver services to people who have suffered a traumatic brain injury. Indiana defines a traumatic brain injury as a trauma that has occurred as a closed or open head injury by an external event that results in damage to brain tissue, with or without injury to other body organs. Examples of external agents are: mechanical; or events that result in interference with vital functions. Traumatic brain injury means a sudden insult or damage to brain function, not of a degenerative or congenital nature. The insult of damage may produce an altered state of consciousness and may result in a decrease in cognitive, behavioral, emotional or physical functioning resulting in partial or total disability not including birth trauma-related injury.

Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE®)

The Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE®) model is centered on the belief that it is better for the well-being of seniors with chronic care needs and their families to be served in the community whenever possible. PACE serves individuals who: are ages 55 or older; certified by their state to need nursing home care; able to live safely in the community at the time of enrollment; and live in a PACE service area. While all PACE participants must be certified to need nursing home care to enroll in PACE, only about seven percent of PACE participants nationally reside in a nursing home. If a PACE enrollee needs nursing home care, the PACE program pays for it and continues to coordinate the enrollee's care.

Services

Delivering all needed medical and supportive services, a PACE program is able to provide the entire continuum of care and services to seniors with chronic care needs while maintaining their independence in their home for as long as possible. Services include the following:

  • Adult day care that offers nursing, physical, occupational and recreational therapies, meals, nutritional counseling, social work and personal care;
  • Medical care provided by a PACE physician familiar with the history, needs and preferences of each participant;
  • Home health care and personal care;
  • All necessary prescription drugs; social services; medical specialties, such as audiology, dentistry, optometry, podiatry and speech therapy;
  • Respite care;
  • Hospital and nursing home care when necessary; and
  • Transportation.

The Franciscan Senior Health & Wellness PACE program currently provides services to older adults who live in the following ZIP codes in Indianapolis, Beech Grove, Greenwood, Franklin and Johnson County: 46201, 46219, 46229, 46203, 46107, 46237, 46239, 46227, 46259, 46142, 46143, 46184 and 46131. For more information, please contact Area 8, CICOA Aging & In-Home Solutions at 317-254-5465.

Where to begin to become a HCBS waiver provider

The Division of Aging is continuing the moratorium for Adult Family Care as well as provider applications for assisted living facilities co-located with a nursing facility.

Effective November 9, 2018, the Division of Aging is lifting the pause for Assisted Living providers that are not co-located with a nursing facility but do have a  secure memory care unit. The Division of Aging has created an application process for certifying secure memory care units.  Please review the Division of Aging’s updated Provider Application, Service Specific Provider Requirements and Certification Tool for information on how a secure memory care unit may become certified with the Division of Aging. 

Please note that effective March 1, 2017, new Assisted Living providers will need to include with their application for certification a waiver of RCF licensure provisions approved by the Indiana State Department of Health for those requirements that are in conflict with the Settings Rule.  Additionally, they will need to include a copy of their standard lease/residency agreements.

Special notice to assisted living providers seeking Medicaid waiver certification

After reviewing the information provided above, you will need to complete an application for certification. A table indicating required documents for each waiver service is available below to review. Any additional questions or inquiries may be submitted to the Waiver Provider Specialist by phone at 317-232-4650 or by email at daproviderapp@fssa.in.gov.

Please note: The Division of Aging office in Indianapolis is not set up to accommodate walk-ins. We urge you to use the tools and information on the website first. Again, questions may be emailed to daproviderapp@fssa.in.gov, as most questions can be resolved by email or phone call. If it becomes necessary to have an in-person meeting, division staff will schedule a meeting with you in advance.

The basic Medicaid Waiver Provider application for certification is available to download here and the required W-9 is available here.

Please submit final application and all required documents at daproviderapp@fssa.in.gov and paper applications will continue to be accepted and may be mailed to the address below.

ATTN: Waiver/Provider Analyst
Family and Social Services Administration
Indiana Health Coverage Programs
DA Home- and Community-Based Services Waivers
402 W. Washington St., Room W454, MS 21
P.O. Box 7083
Indianapolis, IN 46027

Once all documentation and forms are received by the Division of Aging, the Waiver Provider Analyst will review your Provider Application packet. There may be some follow-up questions or additional information needed. You may be contacted via email or telephone. It is important that you reply as soon possible in order to avoid any unnecessary delays in processing your application. If the necessary documentation is not submitted in a timely manner, the application may be returned to you with the request to resubmit.

  • If you are applying to be an Assisted Living provider or an Adult Day Services provider, you will also need to have an onsite survey conducted by the Division of Aging.
  • If you are applying to be an Assisted Living provider, you must complete a Disclosure for Housing with Services Establishments form to comply with IC 12-10-15. As of September 2018, these forms are submitted and maintained online. Please click the links below to complete the form by logging in with Access Indiana and to view instructions on submitting the form.

  • Upon completion of the application process through the Division of Aging, you will be notified by email that your certification has been approved or denied. Information regarding the appeal process will also be included, in the event your application is denied.
  • If approved, you will then be directed to download your Indiana Health Coverage Programs Waiver Billing Provider Application and Profile Maintenance packet through DXC. (See HCBS waiver manual, Section 1.  Helpful hints are also included). You will be notified by letter when the process is complete and your waiver billing number is assigned.
  • NOTE: YOU MUST SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION TO HP WITHIN 90 DAYS OF RECEIPT OF YOUR WAIVER PROVIDER CERTIFICATION FROM THE DIVISION OF AGING.
  • You may begin providing services when you receive your DXC billing number, are activated in the waiver provider database and receive your Notice of Action.