Our annual legislative luncheon was held on Feb. 25, MPAS staff, Board of Directors and PAIMI

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1 Protecting the Rights of Persons With Disabilities Annual Legislative Event a Huge Success Our annual legislative luncheon was held on Feb. 25, MPAS staff, Board of Directors and PAIMI Advisory Council members spoke with a record number of legislators and their staff. The focus for this year s event was about employment opportunities for people with disabilities in Michigan and ways to improve on the current system. MPAS looks forward to working with legislators on policy to provide more inclusive, integrated employment in our state. Awards were presented to our annual contest winners. This year, the essay contest was renamed the Ernie Reynolds Memorial Essay Contest to honor an outstanding disability rights advocate. Ernie Reynolds, who served on the MPAS Board of Directors, passed away in This year s winners were: SPRING 2014 First Place Dawn Reid Second Place Reginald Francis Boerger Third place Beverly Davis (From L to R) MPAS Board of Directors President, Kate Pew Wolters, presents first place winner of the Ernie Reynolds Memorial Essay Contest, Dawn Reid, her award. (From L to R) The second place winner of our essay contest, Reginald Francis Boerger receives his award from MPAS Board of Directors President, Kate Pew Wolters. (From L to R) MPAS Board of Directors President, Kate Pew Wolters, presents third place winner of the Ernie Reynolds Memorial Essay Contest, Beverly Davis, her award. Inside This Issue: Community Mental Health Service Appeals Long-Serving MPAS Board Members Retire...6 Update on Education Advocacy...4 Policy Update...7 From the Executive Director...5 Legal Team Update...7 Page Spring Exchange A quarterly newsletter of Michigan Protection & Advocacy Service, Inc. (MPAS)

2 Community Mental Health Service Appeals: What if you disagree with your treatment? Due to recent and substantial changes in the funding of services provided by the Community Mental Health Systems (CMH), there is a risk that the services you receive may be reduced or altered in a way that is unsatisfactory to you. The information below is an attempt to provide instruction on how to appeal decisions which reduce or eliminate needed services. However, the appeal processes provided by the State Department of Community Health and the CMH systems are internal to the mental health system. In some cases, even if your appeals are successful, the service provider may disagree with the findings and proceed with planned reductions in services. For assistance in challenging decisions to eliminate or unjustifiably reduce the levels and duration of needed services, contact MPAS at or via our website at Whenever you disagree with decisions made about your services, it is a good idea to first try talking to Complaints: Rights Complaints about treatment for people with a mental illness or a developmental disability: You may file a complaint with the Office of Recipient Rights (ORR) if you believe your rights have been violated. For instance, your rights to appropriate mental health treatment or person centered planning might be violated if your services are changed or reduced. You can do this if you already get services from the CMH. You can find a description of your rights in English, Spanish, or Arabic from your Community Mental Health Agency. Make your complaint to the Recipient Rights Office where you receive or received treatment. You can do this by phone or in writing. You may also use a Page Spring Exchange your case worker. Go to the supervisor if that doesn t solve the problem. If that does not work, try calling customer services at your county s CMH program. If you still can not resolve the problem by talking to the appropriate people at CMH, you may file a complaint, an appeal or a grievance. There might be more than one way to appeal their decision, so check with your CMH on how to go about filing the complaints. If one method does not work, you can use another method. Or, you can file multiple appeals at the same time. REMEMBER TO ALWAYS GET THE NAMES OF THE PEOPLE WITH WHOM YOU SPEAK and always keep copies of any appeal, complaint or grievance you file. Below is a list of different ways to submit a complaint about reduced or altered services. Most of these can be used in any agency that is funded by the Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) or the local community mental health program (CMH). recipient rights complaint form. The Recipient Rights Office will let you know if your complaint will be investigated. If your complaint is investigated, you will get a final report in about 90 days. If you disagree with the report, you may appeal again. Please remember there is no requirement that the services you were receiving will stay in place during this process. There is no stay-put assurance. Rights Complaints about treatment for people with substance abuse: You should still make a complaint to a rights advisor or officer, but the complaint form might be different. You will get a report that tells you what will be done about your complaint. If you don t agree with the report, you may appeal. The appeal goes to the Coordinating Agency (CA) for substance abuse services in that area. Continued on page 3

3 Community Mental Health Service Appeals: What if you disagree with your treatment? Continued from page 2 Appeals: Appealing a denial of service: If a CMH agency refuses to give you any services, you have the right to ask for a second opinion from the director of that agency. Ask the Recipient Rights Office or send a letter to the director. Write APPEAL on the envelope. The director s office should answer within five business days. Appealing a denial for hospitalization: If you have Medicaid or no insurance and want to go to a psychiatric hospital for help, the county CMH must see you first and approve your request. If the CMH agency does not let you go into a psychiatric hospital, you have the right to appeal. You may ask the director of the CMH agency for a second opinion. You should get the answer within three days after the Director gets your request. This does not include Sundays or holidays. Again, there is no stay-put provision. Appealing your Individualized Plan of Service (IPOS): Your Individual Plan of Service should be written using a person-centered planning process. You may appeal if you do not agree with your plan. You must start your appeal with the person in charge of writing your plan. That person is usually your caseworker. Your plan must be reviewed within 30 days. If you still do not like the plan, contact the rights advisor and make a complaint. Or, use the local dispute resolution process. If you are on Medicaid, you may also request a hearing if there is a change or denial of services. Appealing services denied, suspended, stopped or reduced: You can appeal when your services are denied, suspended, stopped or reduced. You should get a letter telling you this will happen. The letter will also tell you how to appeal. Even if you don t get the letter, you may still appeal if your services change. If you do not have Medicaid, you may file a recipient rights complaint or use the local dispute resolution process. If you do have Medicaid, you may file a recipient rights complaint, use the local dispute resolution process or request a hearing. You have up to 90 days from the day you get the letter to request a hearing. If you appeal before your services change, or within 10 days of receiving the letter, you may ask that your services stay in place until after your hearing. To use this kind of appeal, fill out a request for hearing form. Complaints about Delays in Service: If you are supposed to get a service but it is taking too long, you could file a recipient rights complaint. Or, you may use the agency s local dispute resolution process. If you have Medicaid, you may also request a hearing because the agency did not act with reasonable promptness. Local Dispute Resolution or Internal Grievance Every CMH agency must have a local dispute resolution process. Sometimes, this is called the internal or local grievance process. Anyone can use it. It does not matter if you have Medicaid or not. Ask the rights advisor or customer service about how to start this type of appeal. If you are not happy with the decision, you have 10 days to appeal to the state (MDCH). Again, there are situations when you could use one or all of the appeal procedures. If you don t know what to do, use them all or talk to the Office of Recipient Rights or MPAS for advice. This is a summary of the current laws. It is not a substitute for legal advice. For more information, talk with your Recipient Rights Office or contact Michigan Protection & Advocacy Service, Inc. at toll free, or online at Spring Exchange Page 3

4 Update on Education Advocacy Mark McWilliams, Information & Referral & Education Director The Director of Information, Referral and Education for MPAS submitted public comment in March 2014 on the proposed changes to the Michigan Administration Rules for Special Education (MARSE). The rules govern how special education students are accommodated in our state s public schools. His full comments are available on in the Newsroom section. School Supports for Children with Challenging Disability-Related Behavior MPAS continued its systemic initiative to improve outcomes for children with intellectual or developmental disabilities who are excluded from school because of disability-related behavior. A questionnaire has produced over 2,900 survey results to date and has helped MPAS identify individual casework and systemic issues in several school districts. A review of a sample of MPAS individual complaint allegations showed that 52% of MPAS school complaints have been substantiated. One charter school network updated and revised its special education procedures based on MPAS input, while another charter school was required to make sweeping changes in its policies and practices due to a complaint. Systemic initiatives are pending in two districts, one intermediate school district, and one state-run district. Due in part to advocacy by MPAS and others, the U.S. Department of Education recently issued a policy directive on complaints that mirrored MPAS approach on the scope and remedial scale of the complaint process. MPAS Congratulates Former MPAS Board Member Micah Fialka-Feldman President Barack Obama appointed Micah Fialka-Feldman to the President s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities in an announcement made on May 9, He will join ten other advocates as new appointees to the presidential committee. Mr. Fialka-Feldman served on the MPAS Board of Directors in 2011 and currently is a Teaching Assistant/ Peer Trainer with Peer2Peer at Syracuse University, a position he has held since He was an intern at the Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in In addition to serving on the MPAS board, he has also served on the Governing Board for the National Youth Leadership Network, the National Project Advisory Committee for the Center for Postsecondary Education for Students with Intellectual Disabilities, and the Taishoff Center for Inclusive Higher Education. Additionally, he maintains a blog about challenges he faces as an adult with intellectual disabilities. In 2009, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Family Voices. Mr. Fialka-Feldman graduated from the Options Program at Oakland University. Micah is an outstanding advocate with an impeccable track record of representing the best interest of all people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, said Elmer L. Cerano, Executive Director of MPAS. We congratulate him on this great honor and wish him nothing but continued success in his new role. Page Spring Exchange

5 FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR We express our most sincere thanks to the Michigan House of Representatives, the Michigan Senate and Governor Snyder for their hard deliberations and successful passage of Michigan s Medicaid expansion and the successful launch of the Healthy Michigan Plan. As of April 1, 2014 Michigan joined the majority of its fellow states in implementing the expansion of Medicaid to individuals in Michigan with incomes up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level. This is approximately $16,000 for a single person and $33,000 for a family of four. Elmer L. Cerano, MPAS Executive Director Michigan s innovative decision to implement what is a significant component of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will allow an estimated 400,000 people in Michigan to have access to Medicaid coverage, while at the same time, expansion of the Medicaid program will bring an estimated 1.2 billion dollars into the state. Moreover, many of the 400,000 Michiganders who will soon be eligible for Medicaid are people with disabilities and also the people who provide the critical supports and services that allow people with disabilities to live successfully in the community such as care workers. Medicaid is particularly important to people with disabilities because it allows for home and community based supports and services that are not typically provided by employer based insurance plans. These supports and services can include physical therapies, rehabilitative services and an array of critical mental health supports. The road to final approval of Medicaid expansion, was not absent of challenges. Michigan Protection & Advocacy Service, Inc. (MPAS), along with a wide variety of other stakeholders including; the hospital associations, various chambers of commerce, small business associations, nursing associations, and of course other disability related organizations, worked to educate legislators on the human and fiscal benefits of expanding Medicaid. As with most controversial legislation, compromise was necessary in order to see that the bill (HB 4714) successfully made its way to the governor s desk. Although none of the factions in the numerous debates received 100 percent of what they wanted, collectively and with bi-partisan support, the Michigan Legislature created a policy that will allow nearly half a million people to take advantage of the robust and comprehensive services provided through Medicaid. Enrollment in the Healthy Michigan Plan is now available! It will play a significant part in helping people who are below 133 percent of the federal poverty level to obtain healthcare coverage. For more information on the Healthy Michigan Plan please visit the Michigan Department of Community Health website at and we encourage you to get signed up at Unlike the federal marketplace, enrollment in the Healthy Michigan Plan is open year-round Spring Exchange Page 5

6 Two Long-Serving MPAS Board Members Retire MPAS paid tribute to retiring board members, Susan Odgers and Frederick (Rick) Swegles, at the September Board of Directors meeting. Both Susan and Rick s positive impact on the agency s ability to fulfill our mission will be evident for decades to come, said Elmer L. Cerano, Executive Director of MPAS. Susan Odgers served on the Board of Directors for 17 years, including a term as president from Susan led the selection of a new executive director in 2001 and helped establish the fundraising committee and essay award. Susan is a well respected advocate for individuals with disabilities and has spoken at the National Disability Rights Network annual conference in Washington D.C. Susan has met with state and national policy makers on behalf of the agency and those the agency represents. (From L to R) State Senator Pavlov s staff member, Rick Swegles, MPAS Board President Kate Pew Wolters, Executive Director Elmer L. Cerano (From L to R) State Representative Wayne Schmidt, Susan Odgers, MPAS Board President Kate Pew Wolters, Executive Director Elmer L. Cerano Rick Swegles served on the Board of Directors for 16 years. In that time he held the office of treasurer from 1999 to 2001, vice president from 2001 to 2003 and president from 2003 to Rick advocated on behalf of the agency and its clients with state and national policy makers. Rick also assisted clients with disability related issues in his law practice. Both Susan and Rick received honorary tributes signed by Gov. Rick Snyder and their respective state legislators. Check out our New Website and Follow us on Facebook! In June 2013, MPAS launched its new and improved website. As the world changes, more and more people with disabilities and their families are turning to the internet for information, guidance and assistance. Many of the more than 8,000 calls that come through the MPAS Information & Referral department are calls that could be more readily assisted through an updated and user-friendly MPAS website. We have received more than 400 s via our website and 2,500 unique visitors since the website launched. Please visit us at You can also follow us on Facebook just search Michigan Protection and Advocacy Service - for updates on our work and the work of state and national advocacy friends. Page Spring Exchange

7 Policy Update On Jan. 21, 2014, Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley unveiled Michigan s Mental Health and Wellness Commission Report. The commission, appointed by Governor Snyder, was made up of the left of the left and the right of the right on the political spectrum from the Michigan Legislature and chaired by the lieutenant governor and vice-chaired by James Haveman, Director of the Michigan Department of Community Health. Other members of the commission include: Sen. Bruce Caswell (R-Hillsdale), Sen. Rebekah Warren (D-Ann Arbor), Rep. Matt Lori (R-Constantine) and Rep. Phil Cavanagh (D-Redford). The commission s report recognizes the intrinsic value of all of Michigan s citizens and the need for major reform in how supports and services to people with disabilities must be improved. It recognizes, among other things, the need to improve coordination between: Education input and employment outcomes Housing options, independent living supports and community inclusion Physical and mental health care Concerns for the public s safety while Legal Team Update The MPAS Legal Team represents individuals in select cases that meet agency priorities. For more information on case selection, please contact MPAS. Following is a case that our legal team worked on in April Michigan Protection and Advocacy Services, Inc. (MPAS) represented a 25-year-old woman in court who was fighting for the right to make her own medical decisions. The client s guardian wanted the court to rule that our client be forced to have an implanted birth control device placed in her arm despite our client having previous adverse reactions to that specific device. protecting the rights of people living with disabilities, addictions and mental illness Data collection and measurable outcomes Increasing the availability and quality of treatment while reducing the stigmas associated with seeking and receiving treatment Here are some of the parts of the report that MPAS finds extremely valuable as a window into the hearts and minds of the commission members; Advancing more opportunities for independence and self-determination for persons living with mental illness, substance use disorder or developmental disabilities. Better access to high quality, coordinated and consistent services and care between agencies, services providers and across geographic boundaries. Measuring outcomes and establishing meaningful metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of services provided and to assess the progress on goals set by the individual, state, and local service providers. MPAS was able to achieve what we and the client consider to be the optimum outcome. She had petitioned to have guardianship removed and become her own advocate, something she had shown she could do. Ultimately, the judge did not order the device to be implanted AND guardianship was terminated. Guardianship is a powerful legal tool which gives one adult legal authority over another adult and restricts the rights of the ward. MPAS believes this should only be used when necessary. In this case, our client could have been forced to live with a medical device that she did not want despite showing ability to self-advocate and live free from guardian supervision. Information on alternatives to guardianship can be found on our website at or you can call and speak with an advocate at Spring Exchange Page 7

8 Michigan Protection & Advocacy Service, Inc Legacy Parkway Suite 500 Lansing MI NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT NO. 263 LANSING, MI Board of Directors Kate Pew Wolters President Grand Rapids Thomas Landry 1st Vice President Highland John McCulloch 2nd Vice President Royal Oak Mark Lezotte Treasurer Detroit Michelle Huerta Immediate Past President Livonia Jane Shank Secretary Interlochen Kathy McGeathy Flint Ronald D. Bush II West Bloomfield Donna DePalma Pinckney Stoney Polman St. Johns Pamela Bellamy Lansing Terri Lynn Land Byron Center Veda A. Sharp Detroit Selena M. Schmidt Shelby Township For more information, call or is an official publication of Michigan Protection & Advocacy Service, Inc. (MPAS) 4095 Legacy Parkway Suite 500 Lansing, MI Telephone TOLL FREE: Fax: Voice/TTY/Language and accommodations available. Available in alternative formats upon request. Elmer L. Cerano Executive Director MPAS is the federally mandated protection and advocacy system for Michigan that receives part of its funding from the Administration on Developmental Disabilities, the Center for Mental Health Services-Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Rehabilitation Services Administration, the Social Security Administration, and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau. This publication is made possible by support from these federal funders. The contents are solely the responsibility of MPAS and do not necessarily represent the official views of the federal agencies listed above. The Exchange is funded by federal appropriations and grants, 95%; State of Michigan appropriations and grants, 5%. Total copies: 10,846. Total Cost: $1, Cost per issue: Spring Exchange Page 8