ADAPT WINS VICTORY FOR VENTILATOR USERS IN WV

ADAPT of WV, has been working with the Northern West Virginia Center for Independant Living (NWVCIL), to ensure that an individual who uses a ventilator has the opportunity to live in his own home rather then be imprisoned in a nursing home. Ventilator services are offered in the Medicaid state plan but have never been provided in West Virginia due to the expense.

John is a ventilator user who had consistenly been denied in-home services by the WV Medicaid Division. No longer able to receive these services from his brother-in-law, he was preparing to enter a nursing home, since the WV Medicaid program refused to fund community-based services of this nature. When ADAPT learned of his situation, we contacted David Fornash, Deputy Director of Health and Human Resources, and Susan Hogg of the Bureau of Senior Services. Their initial response was still to deny him the services that state law entitled him to.

On August 31, John attended the Medicaid Waiver Hearing held in Martinsburg to make a statement about his situation. His presence served to dispel some of the misconceptions about ventilator users, that vent users are necessarily infirm and/or confined to their homes. And yet, no immediate progress on the issue was made.

Two weeks after the meeting, we filed an appeal with Medicaid of their decision not to provide John these services. We also contacted the office of Senator Jay Rockefeller. Within two days of these two actions, John called to tell us that Medicaid had reversed its decision and had granted him the needed specialized services.

ADAPT would like to thank NWVCIL for their assistance on this issue.

This case sets a profound precedent for other ventilator users in West Virginia. If you or someone you know has been denied services of this or any other type, please feel free to contact ADAPT (see homepage) or NWVCIL at (304)296-6091.