Jason Arndt, jarndt@wolfrivermedia.com
Residents of Shawano and Menominee counties will be able to choose between two managed-care organizations selected to help bring the Family Care program to Northeast Wisconsin.
Information about both organizations and Family Care will be presented at a forum from 6-8 p.m. Tuesday at the Shawano Lake County Park pavilion.
Family Care offers a variety of programs through Medicaid for long-term care for the disabled and elderly, helping to keep them out of nursing homes and institutions by providing care in their homes and communities.
The program assumes some of the responsibilities now provided by the Shawano County Human Services Department.
“We will be out of the long-term support business completely, and Family Care will take over,” said Rick Kane, county human services director.
Gov. Scott Walker announced in 2014 the Family Care program would expand to Shawano, Menominee, Oconto, Marinette, Brown, Door and Kewaunee counties. About 4,000 people are expected to qualify.
The expansion is expected to include 2,434 people who use similar county-based care programs, 977 people on waiting lists for county services, and anyone else who resides in the seven counties and meets the eligibility requirements.
The program currently serves about 48,000 people in 57 counties.
State officials selected two organizations — Madison-based Care Wisconsin, which has been offering Family Care since 2008, and Lakeland Care District, which started in Fond du Lac in 2000 — to provide the program in this region.
The Aging and Disability Resource Center of the Wolf River Region, also a component of the Family Care program, will provide pre-enrollment counseling to residents from May until Sept. 1, when both organizations will begin accepting applicants.
“We will not place them,” said Kimmery Weber, operated services manager for Shawano County Human Services. “The participants, the guardians or family members will help them choose.”
The organizations are tasked with providing cost-effective, comprehensive and flexible long-term care that will foster Family Care participants’ independence and quality of life, while recognizing the need for interdependence and support.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services describes the program’s specific goals as providing clients with better choices about where they live and what kinds of services and supports they get to meet their needs; improving their access to services; improving their quality of life through a focus on health and social outcomes; and creating a cost-effective system.
Each Family Care member will have support from a team that consists of, at least, a social worker/care manager and a registered nurse. Other professionals will participate as needed.
MCOs receive a monthly per person payment to manage and purchase care for their members, who may be living in their own homes, group living situations or nursing facilities.
“The expansion of this program allows more people to stay in their homes, where they prefer to be,” Walker said in a statement in April. “By extending Family Care services, they can have a better quality of life, more independence, and they can avoid the expense of moving into a nursing home before it’s necessary.”
It’s unclear when DHS would start moving to expand Family Care into the remaining eight counties: Adams, Dane, Forest, Florence, Oneida, Rock, Taylor and Vilas.