More Customers Begin Using iBudget
Contact: Melanie Mowry Etters
Communication Director
850-488-4257
More Customers Begin Using iBudget
TALLAHASSEE — Customers in Central Florida are now using iBudget
Florida to manage their services funded by the Home and Community-Based
Services (HCBS) Medicaid waiver the Agency for Persons with
Disabilities (APD) announced today. The HCBS waiver is funded by tax
dollars to help people with developmental disabilities remain and be
active in their local communities.
The customers living in Alachua, Bradford, Columbia, Dixie,
Gilchrist, Hamilton, Lafayette, Levy, Putnam, Suwannee, Union, Hardee,
Highlands, Polk, Brevard, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Indian River,
Martin, Okeechobee, and St. Lucie counties have been preparing for this
transition over the past several months.
These customers join 7,718 others who are already using iBudget
in North Florida to manage their services and the dollars associated
with them.
iBudget Florida is a new way to deliver Medicaid waiver services
that has been approved by both the Florida Legislature and the federal
government. iBudget provides greater ability to choose services that
matter most to customers given their unique situations. It gives
greater flexibility for customers to respond to their changing needs.
Another group of customers in Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry,
Lee, De Soto, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, and Sarasota
counties will begin using iBudget on January 1, 2013.
Customers in Palm Beach and Broward counties will begin using the
iBudget Florida system on April 1, 2013.
The final group of customers, in Dade and Monroe counties, will
begin using iBudget on July 1, 2013. In addition, Consumer-Directed
Care Plus (CDC+) participants will start using iBudget on July 1, 2013.
iBudget Florida is designed to make the funding process fair and
equitable for all Medicaid waiver customers. It will provide increased
opportunities for customers to direct their own care. The new system
will also allow the agency to have more financial predictability in the
future.
Some other customer benefits of iBudget Florida are:
· Ability to use funds not needed for services in one month for future
service needs within a fiscal year
· Access to dental services that were not available in the tier four
waiver
· Greater control to change services or providers to fit the person’s
needs
· Support coordinators able to use iBudget technology to reduce
paperwork requirements and communicate efficiently with providers and
APD, and
· Greater opportunity for APD to use new funds to serve people on the
Medicaid waiver waiting list.
APD annually serves more than 50,000 Floridians with the
developmental disabilities of autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome,
intellectual disabilities, spina bifida, and Prader-Willi syndrome. For
more information on iBudget Florida, visit iBudgetFlorida.org. To learn
more about the agency, call 1-866-APD-CARES (1-866-273-2273) or visit
APDcares.org.
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