Colleagues - I'm reaching out to see if the National Council and/or any other state associations are planning to file comments on proposed regulatory changes to IDEA. Comments are due by August 1.
The proposed change would remove the requirement for public agencies to obtain parental consent prior to accessing for the first time a child's public benefits or insurance ( e.g., Medicaid, Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP)) to provide or pay for required IDEA Part B services.
In Maryland, attorneys and children's advocates routinely advise parents to withhold consent to public benefits for IDEA services because using Medicaid to pay for IDEA may result in denials of care for non-school based Medicaid services that the child is receiving. As a result, we are concerned that removing parental consent will result in Medicaid-insured children losing access to needed mental health services delivered in community settings. We are further concerned that this creates a risk that the expansion of school-based mental health services will accelerate these conflicts when Medicaid is faced with paying for similar services in school-based and community-based settings.
I'm curious whether other states face these conflicts and, if so, whether you are planning to file comments on the proposed regulations.
Shannon Hall
CBH
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Shannon Hall
Executive Director
Community Behavioral Health Association of Maryland
Catonsville MD
410-788-1865 ext 2
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