WEST VIRGINIA
With two federal grants totaling more than $2 million, West Virginia planned to improve community long-term support systems so that consumers had choices of services and the supports they needed for community living. The project's goals are to develop solutions for improved access to transportation, educational supports and services, and employment opportunities with the assistance of a Real Choice Partnership group.
Grant Initiatives
The state received two federal Systems Change grants, totaling slightly more than $2 million, in 2002. With a $725,000 grant, the Center for Excellence in Disabilities at West Virginia University was expected to partner with state agencies, consumers and provider groups to expand personal assistance services and increase participant options for consumer control and direction. The project creates a Consumer/Agency/Services (CAS) Oversight Board that assists with project direction, activities and outcomes.
A $1.3 million grant is being used to develop and maintain an ongoing Real Choice Partnership Group, 60 percent of whom were to be consumers and advocates. The 28-member group planned to meet quarterly to review the activities and recommendations of its four working committees (policy, practice, services and legislative affairs). Consumers will receive self-determination training. Project staff will develop a curriculum and provide consumer-led training. Recommendations will be developed for increasing transportation accessibility, recreational/leisure opportunities, educational supports and services, and employment possibilities.
The Budget
The state was expected to face a $250 million Medicaid budget gap for FY 2004. The Legislature approved a cigarette tax increase, which was expected to generate nearly $60 million in revenues. Governor Bob Wise had pledged that all the money from the cigarette tax would go to Medicaid. That would result in a three-to-one match by the federal government for the Medicaid program.
End of Life
The Legislature in 2002 enacted a measure that allows health care professional licensing boards to develop guidelines for end-of-life pain management. The measure also amends the definition of "accepted guideline" related to the management of intractable pain by adding that such a guideline includes policy or position statements relating to pain management issued by West Virginia boards that have jurisdiction over various health care practitioners.
Nursing Homes
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs transferred 5.5 acres of land to West Virginia for a 120-bed nursing home for veterans. Federal grant money was expected to cover about 65 percent of the cost of the $20 million project. The state planned to cover its share of project costs from the state lottery "Veterans Cash" game, which the Legislature authorized in 2001. West Virginia has the highest per capita number of war veterans in the country.
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