[For reasons unknown, you will have to click on that icon
and also the same one on the screen that follows to get to the historical documents.
Hey, I'm just a simple country lawyer, not a code monkey.]
Previous articles
Movement at CMS
February
24, 2010
Program
integrity, error prevention and fraud-fighting will move up the CMS food chain
under a proposed reorganization of the agency that is expected to be finalized
in mid-April.
CMS has proposed a new Center for Program Integrity that would report directly
to the CMS administrator, according to an internal CMS e-mail. The center would
be run by a new deputy administrator, and CMS has selected Peter Budetti, M.D.,
J.D., to serve in this role. Budetti is a former congressional counsel,
university professor and chair of Taxpayers Against Fraud, the Washington, D.C.,
nonprofit agency that supports False Claims Act cases.
If HHS Sec. Kathleen Sebelius approves the reorganization, as expected, CMS will
have a new principal deputy administrator. The person designated for this job is
Marilyn Tavenner, former Virginia secretary of Health and Human Services. There
will also be a new Office of External Affairs and Beneficiary Services and four
new centers, each led by deputy administrators:
(1) The Center for Medicare, which will report directly to the CMS
administrator, combines Medicare fee-for-service, managed care, and the
prescription drug benefit. Deputy Administrator Jonathan Blum and two deputy
center directors will run this center. “Existing groups/staffs of the current
Center for Medicare Management and Center for Drug and Health Plan Choice will
be realigned intact under the new Center,” the e-mail states.
(2) The Center for Program Integrity will absorb some Medicare and all of the
Medicaid program integrity operations. Kim Brandt, the longtime director of
program integrity, will become part of the Center for Program Integrity. She is
in charge of the zone program integrity contractors (ZPICs), which focus on
fraud and abuse and enrollment. The Medicaid Integrity Group will be located in
the Center for Program Integrity. However, the Provider Compliance Group will
not move over to the new Center for Program Integrity. It will remain under the
Center for Financial Management, which will become part of the new Center for
Medicare. George Mills will continue to be the director of the Provider
Compliance Group, which oversees recovery audit contractors (RACs), medical
review, and comprehensive error rate testing (CERT). The emphasis of the
Provider Compliance Group is on payment-error prevention and detection and
error-rate calculation.
(3) The Center for Medicaid, CHIP and
Survey & Certification is the new name for the Center for Medicaid and State
Operations. The center will report
directly to the administrator. Deputy Administrator Cindy Mann and two deputy
center directors will operate the center. Existing groups/staff will remain in
the renamed center, except for the Medicaid Integrity Group.
(4) The Center for Strategic Planning realigns the Office of Research,
Development, and Information and the Office of Policy. This center will report
directly to the administrator and be operated by the deputy administrator.
CMS says Budetti “is considered one of the leading experts in the United States
on health care fraud.” In addition to running health administration and policy
departments at three leading universities since 1990, he has been the Visiting
Professor for Health Care Fraud at the National Association of Insurance
Commissioners since last year. He also was a staff member for the Senate Finance
Committee and counsel to the U.S. House Subcommittee on Health and the
Environment under Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.).
The fact that program integrity is now its own center, with direct-line
reporting to the CMS administrator, is seen as significant. “Program integrity
got bumped up in importance,” says one observer, who declined to be identified.
From the
Feb. 22, 2010, issue of REPORT ON MEDICARE COMPLIANCE
Summary of the
President's New Health Care Proposal
Last
year's federal stimulus package provided $87 billion in fiscal relief to states,
helping them to prevent cuts to social service programs. This relief allowed
states to continue to serve children, youth and families at a time of increased
need and falling state revenues.
This assistance is scheduled to expire on December 31, 2010, in the middle of
most states' fiscal years. Unfortunately, state revenues are not projected to
increase in the coming fiscal year; in fact, states currently face shortfalls
totaling $140 billion in fiscal year 2011. This means that without additional
fiscal relief, states will have to institute massive new budget cuts and tax
increases at the start of the new fiscal year on July 1, when unemployment is
expected to remain at or near double-digit levels and the economy will likely
still be fragile.
Already Governors around the country are proposing severe cuts to programs
benefitting children and families, for example:
Arizona's governor is proposing deep cuts to a range of programs and
services. If enacted, her budget would: eliminate the state's children's
health insurance program (KidsCare), which covers 47,000 children; make deep
cuts to support for early learning by eliminating preschool for 4,328
children and eliminating state support for full-day kindergarten; and reduce
the number of months that low-income families can receive cash assistance
through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program,
immediately eliminating assistance for 10,000 poor families, among other
cuts.
Colorado's governor proposes to eliminate a scheduled increase in K-12
funding that would cover enrollment and cost increases and implement an
additional cut of $223 million in school aid. He also proposes delaying
payments to Medicaid providers and cutting payment rates.
New
York's governor is proposing a $1.1 billion cut to state education aid; more
than $400 million in reduced payments to health care providers and about
$100 million in other health-related cuts; $143 million in funding cuts for
four-year public colleges and cuts to a financial aid program serving
students from low- and moderate-income families.
When
he is not busy flying to Argentina or hiking the Appalachian Trail, South
Carolina's governor is proposing capping total enrollment in the state's
children's health insurance program.
The Long-Awaited Lewin
Report Has Been Released to the Public
Ho-Hum
February
10, 2010
Excerpts
from the 109 page report are below. If you are having trouble sleeping,
you can find the whole thing
here.
N.B.
The typical high-end consultant's report is approximately 40% regurgitation of
what the client says and already knows, 40% boilerplate from other similar
reports, and 10% solutions/findings. The latter are also boilerplate,
having been offered as solutions/findings in previous reports.
Legislation [H.R.
4247] introduced to prevent and reduce the use of
physical restraint and
seclusion in schools, and for other purposes
February
9, 2010
Summary:
Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act - Directs the
Secretary of Education (Secretary) to establish minimum standards that: (1)
prohibit elementary and secondary school personnel from managing any student by
using any mechanical or chemical restraint, physical restraint or escort that
restricts breathing, or aversive behavioral intervention that compromises
student health and safety; (2) prohibit such personnel from using physical
restraint or seclusion, unless such measures are required to eliminate an
imminent danger of physical injury to the student or others and certain
precautions are taken; (3) require states and local educational agencies (LEAs)
to ensure that a sufficient number of school personnel receive state-approved
training and certification in first aid and certain safe and effective student
management techniques; (4) prohibit physical restraint or seclusion from being
written into a student's education plan, individual safety plan, behavioral
plan, or individual education program as a planned intervention; and (5) require
schools to establish procedures to notify parents in a timely manner if physical
restraint or seclusion is imposed on their child.
Authorizes the Secretary to award grants to states and, through them,
competitive subgrants to LEAs to: (1) establish, implement, and enforce policies
and procedures to meet such standards; (2) improve their capacity to collect and
analyze data related to physical restraint and seclusion; and (3) implement
school-wide positive behavior supports.
Directs
the Secretary to conduct a national assessment of this Act's effectiveness.
Gives
Protection and Advocacy Systems the authority provided under the Developmental
Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 2000 to investigate, monitor,
and enforce this Act's protections for students.
Directs
the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish standards for Head Start
agencies that are consistent with the minimum standards for the management of
elementary and secondary school students.
Authorizes the Secretary to allocate funds to the Secretary of Health and Human
Services to assist Head Start agencies in establishing, implementing, and
enforcing policies and procedures to meet such standards.
Senate Passes Historic
Health Insurance Reform Legislation
December 24, 2009
In a rare
Christmas session, the Senate passed the health reform package on a vote far
exceeding the amount needed for passage.
Full
story here.
Vast Majority of
Children Would Be as Well Off or Better Off
Under House Health
Bill than Under Current Law.
Bill Would Make
Substantial Progress for Children Overall
December 22, 2009
by Judith
Solomon, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
“An examination of how the almost 79 million
children under age 19 would fare under the House-passed health reform bill shows
that the overwhelming majority likely would either see no change or be better
off than under current law, with tens of millions better off.
“Some have criticized the bill out of the belief that its phaseout of the
Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) at the end of 2013 would result in
many millions of children being worse off than they are today. Some children
could indeed be worse off under the House bill. These children would constitute
a small fraction of the number of children who would gain under the bill,
however, and would make up significantly fewer than 5 percent of the children in
the country.”
The Patient Protection
and Affordable Health Care Act
Now Playing at a
Theater Near You
November 18, 2009
Today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid released the Senate version of
the health insurance reform bill. The bill was merged from the bills
passed by the Senate Health Committee and the Senate Finance Committee.
Here are some resources you may find useful in following the health care
reform issues, with thanks to Senator Debbie Stabenow [D-MI], a member
of the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Finance Committee
Subcommittee on Health.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act The merged Senate health care bill, called The
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, will ensure that all
Americans have access to quality, affordable health care and will create
the transformation within the health care system necessary to contain
costs.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is withdrawing the proposed
rule, “Medicaid Program; Coverage for Rehabilitative Services” (72 FR 45201).
Originally published in the Federal Register on August 13, 2007, the rule
proposed to clarify the definition of Medicaid “rehabilitative services” and
establish new documentation and other requirements.
This rule had been subject to a congressional moratorium put in place by two
laws, the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 (Pub. L. 110-173)
and the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 (Pub. L. 110-252), that prohibited
the Secretary from taking any action, including publication of a final rule that
was more restrictive with respect to coverage or payment for rehabilitative
services than the requirements in place as of July 1, 2007. Before the
expiration of the congressional moratorium, section 5003(d) of the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Pub. L. 111-5), enacted on February 17,
2009, included a “Sense of Congress” that the Secretary should not promulgate as
a final regulation the August 13, 2007 proposed regulation. In light of clear
congressional concern as well as the complexity of the underlying issues and of
the public comments received, CMS decided to withdraw the August 2007 proposed
rule in order to assure agency flexibility in re-examining the issues and
exploring options and alternatives with Congress and stakeholders.
The attached notice went on display at
the Office of the Federal Register yesterday and will be published in the
Federal Register on Monday, November 23, 2009. If you have any questions about
this withdrawal notice, please contact the CMS Office of Legislation. Thank you.
Children's Health
Coverage: Medicaid,
CHIP, and Next
Steps
November
13, 2009
Russell Senate Office Building -
Washington, DC
Sponsoring Organization: Alliance
For Health Reform; Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Event starts: 12:15pm November
13, 2009 Event ends: 2:00pm November 13, 2009
The Alliance for Health Reform and the
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation are sponsoring a lunch briefing to discuss the
factors involved in children's health coverage, the state of the Children's
Health Insurance Program (CHIP), as well as the implications of the reform
proposals currently under debate in Congress.
Medicaid and the Children’s Health
Insurance Program (CHIP) play a crucial role in the U.S. health insurance system
by providing coverage for more than one in four children. The number of children
in CHIP is at an all-time high, having grown 15 percent over the past year
alone. About half of Medicaid’s enrollees are children. And yet, more than 8
million children remain uninsured today, 70 percent of whom are eligible for
Medicaid or CHIP.
What factors influence children’s
coverage? What are the trends in private sector coverage? How well are the
enrollment simplification and outreach tools included in this year’s CHIP
reauthorization helping reach those children who are eligible but unenrolled?
How much does a child’s coverage depend on where he or she lives? How have
states’ budget shortfalls affected children’s coverage? What is being proposed
in the House and Senate reform bills that could affect children’s coverage in
the future?
Panelists will be:
Jocelyn Guyer of the Center for
Children and Families at Georgetown University Health Policy Institute
Wait a minute -
so a pandemic trumps the alleged free care rule?
October 27, 2009
CMS Free Care Rule for 2009
H1N1 Influenza Vaccination
Medicaid’s long-standing policy is that
Medicaid is not liable for services that are available without charge to the
beneficiary or other legally liable third parties. In general, Medicaid is
obligated to ensure that other legally liable third parties pay primary to
Medicaid.
In the face of the national healthcare
emergency presented by the 2009 H1N1 flu, the free care and third party
liability policies will be applied in the following way:
• Consistent with the Centers for
Disease Control (CDC) guidelines, health care providers accepting CDC funds to
immunize all patients, regardless of insurance, will rely on those CDC funds and
will not bill Medicaid for the cost of administering
2009 H1N1 flu vaccines.
• Health care providers accepting CDC
funds to immunize only patients without other coverage will be permitted to bill
Medicaid for the cost of administering 2009 H1N1 flu vaccines to Medicaid
beneficiaries based on the following criteria:
o Providers with systems capabilities to
bill legally liable third party private insurance or other coverage of
non-Medicaid eligibles and Medicaid beneficiaries must continue to do so.
o Providers without systems capabilities
to bill legally liable third party private insurers or other coverage of
non-Medicaid eligibles and Medicaid beneficiaries may bill Medicaid for services
provided to Medicaid-eligible individuals, but must include in the bills
sufficient information to facilitate Medicaid billing
Republicans refuse to
commit to posting their health care reform bill online
October 30, 2009
Since I published the House Democrats
version of their Health Care Reform bill, below, I thought it fair to publish
the Republican version too. Unfortunately, I was unable to find a copy on
the Internet. After watching John Boehner [R-OH], House Minority Leader at
a press conference on the subject, it became clear I wasn't going to be
successful.
Today during his press conference yesterday House Minority Leader John Boehner
(R-OH) was pressed for Republicans to commit themselves to posting a version of
their plan online at least 72 hours before a final vote on health care reform.
Rep. Boehner balked at the request, saying only that Republicans will
"have our ideas ready."
When pressed as to whether Republicans will unite behind one of their own
plans for reform, Boehner again refused to make any commitments, saying that it
was difficult for Republicans to have a plan when Democrats are controlling the
process. I am not sure you have to be in control of Congress to write your own
plan, but then I did miss a couple of days in 8th grade civics class. Passage of a
Republican plan would certainly be difficult without their control of Congress,
but there is nothing preventing the minority from writing and posting their own
plan online.
Summary of the
Affordable Health Care for America Act [H.R. 3962]
October 30, 2009
Click
here for a .pdf summary of the
House version of health care reform released today by Speaker Pelosi.
House
passes its version of AHCA
Summary
Below
October 30, 2009
House Democrats on Thursday
unveiled the Affordable Health Care for America Act. The
1,990-page
legislation is a combination of bills passed by three House committees
earlier this year. Key tenets include:
· New regulations | New
insurance industry regulations would prohibit insurers from rejecting
customers based on pre-existing conditions. The regulations would also
prohibit annual or lifetime caps on benefits.
· Insurance exchange | The bill
would set up a new national health insurance exchange, a marketplace
where individuals who do not have employer-sponsored insurance would be
able to shop for plans. The exchange would also be open to small
businesses, and more would be able to join each year. Companies with 25
or fewer employees would be able to join in 2013, companies with 50 or
fewer employees could join in 2014, and companies with fewer than 100
employees could join by 2015.
· Public insurance option | The
health insurance exchange would include a government-run public plan.
Federal officials would negotiate payment rates with doctors and
hospitals that accept the plan.
· Employer mandate | Employers
with annual payrolls greater than $500,000 would be required to either
provide health insurance for their employees, or contribute 8 percent of
their payroll to a federal fund to help subsidize employees who purchase
coverage through the exchange. Employers with payrolls less than
$500,000 would be exempt from the mandate.
· Individual mandate |
Individuals will be required to purchase health insurance, or pay a
penalty fee. Some people would be eligible to apply for a hardship
waiver.
· Medicaid expansion | Medicaid
would be expanded to cover everyone whose income is below 150 percent of
the poverty line, or about $33,000 per year for a family of four.
· Affordability subsidies |
People who earn between 150 percent and 400 percent of the federal
poverty level would be eligible for subsidies on a sliding scale to
purchase insurance through the exchange. Those subsidies would ensure
that people who make 150 percent of the poverty level would not have to
pay more than 3 percent of their income in premiums, while those who
make 400 percent of the poverty level could pay up to 12 percent of
their income in premiums.
· Out-of-pocket expenses caps |
New regulations would cap yearly out-of-pocket medical expenses for
individuals at $5,000 and families at $10,000. Those who earn less than
400 percent of the poverty level would have lower caps, on a sliding
scale.
· Tax surcharge | The bill would
help pay for itself by imposing a 5.4 percent tax surcharge on
individuals earning more than $500,000 per year and families earning
more than $1 million.
· End-of-life counseling | The
bill retains a controversial provision that allows Medicare to pay for
voluntary end-of-life counseling.
Questions for Today
October 20, 2009
1. If a school employee is paid
with ARRA funds, can that employee's time be used in a time study that supports
reimbursement for administrative services?
2. If a school district is asked
to participate in the distribution of H1N1 vaccine, can it seek Medicaid
reimbursement if it distributes the vaccine to students who are not Medicaid
recipients without violating the so-called Free Care Rule?
Medicaid: State by State Descriptions & Plans
Medicaid is a
federal-state partnership, with state laws, state regulations,
federally approved state waivers, and approved "state plans" all
creating significant variations from state to state. Listed
below are selected links to information about existing Medicaid
plans and reform proposals within individual states. It is hoped
they will be of general use:
1) to residents seeking basic information about their individual
state.
2) to policymakers and researchers interested in comparing
activities in one state to those in another.
Last night Secretary
Arne Duncan was interviewed on The Colbert Report. Before
the show, Duncan and Stephen Colbert played a game of horse
outside the studio. Highlights include bank shots off a
wall, an apparent foul by the Secretary, and an outside shot
Colbert sank from the studio steps.
In the interview,
Colbert asked Duncan about the education goals of the Obama
Administration. “It’s about having high expectations for
every child,” Duncan explained. “It’s about challenging
everyone to take responsibility—personal
responsibility—students, parents, teachers, principals.”
When asked about No
Child Left Behind, Duncan said:
“No Child
Left Behind did a pretty good job articulating the
problem. I’m much more focused on the solutions. How do
we make sure that every child has a great teacher? How
do we get our best teachers working in historically
underserved communities—rural, inner city. How do we
raise expectations for everyone? At the end of the day,
how do we make sure that every high school graduate is
college ready and career ready? That’s what this is
about. It’s about raising the bar for the country.”
For a look at the roundball game and the
interview, click
here.
Having Trouble
Sleeping?
October 20, 2009
Click
here for the full text of Senator Baucus' America’s Healthy Future Act of
2009 - all 1502 pages of it. It's better than Ambien® or even
Chamomile tea.
Children's Budget 2009
October 6, 2009
First Focus
is a bipartisan advocacy organization that is committed to making children and
families a priority in federal policy and budget decisions. First Focus brings
both traditional and non-traditional leaders together to advocate for federal
policies that will improve the lives of America’s children.
Child health,
education,
family economics,
child welfare, and child
safety are the core issue areas in which First Focus promotes bipartisan policy
solutions.
Each year First Focus produces a
“Children’s Budget” detailing federal funding for children’s programs.
Children's Budget 2009
The federal government funds over 180
different children’s programs, from child health and education to child welfare
and juvenile justice. Children’s Budget 2009 is a comprehensive guide to all
federal spending on children and an invaluable resource for all those seeking to
improve the lives of America’s youth.
This year, Children’s Budget includes a special analysis of investments in
children provided through the economic recovery package, known as the American
Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA). Within the $787 billion ARRA package,
almost $144 billion went to children’s programs. This investment accounted for
18 percent of ARRA spending, a significant increase for America’s children. In
fact, Children’s Budget 2009 reveals that all other federal spending on children
accounts for less than ten percent of the entire non-defense budget.
The key findings of Children’s Budget
2009 include:
For the past five years, less than
one nickel out of every new, real non-defense dollar spent by the federal
government has gone to children and children’s programs.
Children’s spending makes up less
than ten percent of the entire non-defense budget.
The overall share of federal,
non-defense spending going to children’s programs has dropped by twelve
percent over the past five years.
Real discretionary spending on
children has declined by one percent since 2005, while at the same time all
other non-defense discretionary spending has increased by 4 percent.
·Download the Book
The full version of Children's Budget
2009 available to download as a pdf.
Click here.
Request a Free Copy of Children's Budget 2009
If you would like a hard copy of the
publication, click here.
PowerPoint Presentation:
Click here to download the presentation from First Focus's Congressional
Briefing entitled "Children in the Federal Budget."
Health Reform Moving
Forward [well,
moving anyway]
October 6, 2009
Who Is Doing What
The House
The House has been actively engaged in
negotiating the three bill versions and working behind the scenes to craft one
bill for a House vote. Ultimately, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will need to
reconcile different efforts and decide between emerging disputes, presumably
with input from the White House. In order to do that, Ms. Pelosi has been
holding caucuses tutoring House Democrats on certain aspects of the differing
bill provisions while at the same time providing a forum to hear their
concerns. The most difficult issue shaping the debate appears to be how to hold
on to more generous subsidy levels for low- to moderate- income people while
identifying revenue options to keep the cost of the bill at or below $900
billion over 10 years.
The Senate
During the week of Sept. 28, the Senate
Finance Committee:
· rejected two amendments
providing for a public option,
· rejected an amendment which
would have eliminated the ability of publicly subsidized health plans to offer
coverage for abortions even using only private monies,
· reduced the projected penalties
on individuals who fail to sign up for insurance despite the mandate, and
· continued to consider other
amendments.
The Senate Finance bill currently
standardizes Medicaid eligibility for all individuals and families with an
income at or below 133% of the Federal Poverty Level, equal to an annual income
of less than $30,000 for a family of four and $14,400 for an individual.
After the Senate Finance Committee votes
out a bill this week, Majority Leader Harry Reid will begin to craft a merged
bill combining the Senate Finance Committee's plan with the HELP Committee
bill. Mr. Reid will solicit assistance from the White House and the committee
chairmen in the merger process. As the Senate and House reconcile their
efforts, it is more common for there to be a more open-ended consideration of
amendments to legislation on the Senate floor, rather than through the merger
process. Thus, issues such as the public option are more likely to be revisited
when the final version hits the Senate floor.
Senator Reid is still committed to
having the a bill on the Senate floor by mid-October and announced last
Wednesday that he is canceling the one-week Senate recess, originally planned
for the week of Oct. 12, so that the Senate might more quickly consider health
care reform.
Other amendments to the Senate Finance
Committee bill were:
· An amendment introduced by
Senator Maria Cantwell from Washington, allowing states to collect the tax
credits that would be made available to people between 133% and 200% of the
Federal Poverty Level and use the money to negotiate with insurers for a
state-based public option that would be offered in the exchange.
· Exemption of 2 million people
from the mandate to buy insurance because it would be a financial hardship.
Premiums are not to exceed more than 8 percent of income, lowered from 10
percent of income.
· Reduced or delayed penalties
for individuals who do not purchase insurance. The maximum penalty for a family
not purchasing health insurance was reduced to $800 from $1,900, and would be
phased in gradually between 2014 and 2017.
· Modification of the proposed
tax on high-cost insurance policies so fewer people would be affected. The tax
would apply to policies with family premiums exceeding $21,000, but the
threshold would be $5,000 higher for health plans covering retirees or people in
certain high-risk occupations.
· Protection for several million
older Americans against the loss of extra benefits they receive from private
Medicare Advantage plans.
· Protection of children against
disruption of coverage currently provided under the Children's Health Insurance
Program.
· Agreed to a proposal by Senator
Blanche Lincoln, D, Ark, preventing health insurance companies from taking tax
deductions for executive compensation in excess of $500,000.
· Health and wellness incentives
were outlined, providing discounts for people who quit smoking or lose weight.
White House Leadership Expected
Momentum is building for increased
participation from President Obama. With five congressional committees having
drafted health reform bills, House and Senate leadership will be looking for the
President's input as the bills move through to both chambers for votes. It is
expected that his leadership will be key when the House and Senate bills reach
conference committee. It is at this stage that the administration could have its
greatest input.
Recent filings indicate that
there are enough lobbyists registered to deal with health reform issues to
amount to five lobbyists for every Member of Congress. Apparently
unemployment has not yet hit the Hill.
.
Supreme Court Case Law Library
There are a number of Supreme Court cases that directly affect the issues of
FAPE and "related services." They are now posted on this site in the Case Law
Library.
I will soon post a brief summary of each case for your convenience. The cases
currently in the library are BROWN v. BOARD OF EDUCATION; BOARD OF EDUCATION OF
THE HENDRICK HUDSON CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT; WESTCHESTER COUNTY v. ROWLEY;
IRVING INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DIST. v. TATRO; and CEDAR RAPIDS COMMUNITY SCHOOL
DISTRICT v. GARRET F. I especially recommend that you read the last two.
To gain access to any of the documents in the left hand margin, click on the
document title. Some of these documents are in Adobe format, and will require
Adobe
Reader
to open. If you do not have a copy of this program, you can download one for
free by clicking on the link above.
If you ever need a reminder of why we are in this fight, check this one out
Please feel free to use the information posted here in your efforts to expand
access to Federal Medicaid funding for special education.
Any summary or analysis of any state or federal law or regulation is transmitted
for informational purposes only and not for legal advice. Users should not act
upon this information without seeking the professional advice of a lawyer in the
applicable jurisdiction. An effort has been made to provide useful information,
but the information is not necessarily complete, may be inaccurate, and may not
reflect current legal developments. The provider does not warrant that the
information is complete or accurate and disclaims all liability to any person
for any loss caused by errors or omissions in any summary.
Welcome: This site was originally intended as a place for me to post materials
that were handouts for a national presentation I made in Boston nearly four years
ago. Since that time I have expanded the site to include a library of important
government documents (and this site is searchable by key word, by the way), a
library of relevant Supreme Court cases, regular (well, maybe not so regular, as
I try to keep up with the news as it happens) news updates, and the occasional
editorial. The site also has a new threaded discussion feature. Most of the
links you will need are in the left margin. Enjoy, use and reproduce
materials, and refer freely. Email me with questions, requests, etc.
