Author: Stefanie Primm

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services has announced the names of the MCOs and ICAs that will provide services in Dane County.

To understand more about what will happen next, keep reading for information put together for LOV by Dennis Harkins, combining information from DHS and ADRC.

Updated July 23, 2017: This update provides information on the dates by which people must make a selection of an IRIS, Family Care, or Family Care Partnership organization in order to continue services in 2018. Read below, or click here to download this update.

Family Care/IRIS Transition in Dane County

Preparing For Enrollment Counseling

July 23, 2017

The Wisconsin DHS has announced that the following choices will be available to individuals within Dane County as IRIS and Family Care begin in 2018:

For IRIS: Advocates4U, Connections, First Person Consultants and TMG.

For Family Care: Care Wisconsin and My Choice Family Care.

For Family Care Partnership: Care Wisconsin and iCare.

Other IRIS Consultant Agencies may be certified in the future for Dane County.

In the near future, we will learn what month in 2018 each person will begin services through IRIS or Family Care. It is important to know that you do not need to make your choice at the first meeting you have with an ADRC counselor. The chart below shows the date by which you must make your choice, depending upon what month you will make your transition. Note that NO ONE needs to make their selection before December 31, 2017.

If services begin in February you must choose by December 31, 2017

If services begin in March you must choose by January 31, 2018

If services begin in April you must choose by February 28, 2018

If services begin in May you must choose by March 31, 2018

We do not discourage anyone from signing the IRIS or Family Care enrollment form as soon as you are ready, but we do encourage you to take your time. Once people start choosing and providing feedback on their early experiences, LOV Dane and others plan to hold ongoing meetings to bring people in who have made their selections, have met with their chosen IRIS or Family Care agency, and are willing to share their experiences and opinions.

DHS also announced that the transition will include September group meetings with Dane County participants to provide an overview of the Family Care, Partnership, and IRIS programs and answer questions related to the transition. Beginning in October, each person will receive one-on-one counseling with the Dane County ADRC to help them decide which program will be best for them and then choose a managed care organization for Family Care or Partnership, or an IRIS consultant agency

Here is a general outline of what we have learned from the transitions to IRIS and Family Care in other counties and what we expect to be similar here as the ADRC helps prepare you to sign the enrollment form for IRIS or the enrollment form for a Family Care organization (when we write Family Care, we mean either Family Care or Family Care Partnership, both of which will be options for you).

• Each eligible person will receive a letter informing them of the coming transition and introducing the process of enrollment counseling.
• That process may include invitations to smaller group meetings in which the ADRC will provide more detail on the available options among IRIS and Family Care, and may provide an opportunity for people who are clear about their decision to make their selection at those meetings.
• The ADRC will inform you of the date by which you must make a selection in order to receive services from IRIS or Family Care in 2018. If they do not volunteer that information in the letter they send to you, or when you meet, we suggest that you ask them.
• The ADRC will offer to meet with you individually one or more times in an ADRC office, your home, or an agreed upon location to provide information to you about your options within IRIS and Family Care, and assist you in completing the enrollment form at the time you have made your decision.
• While we hope that they will change their mind on this, at this time we have been told by DHS and the ADRC that you will not be allowed to bring a service provider or professional support broker to the meeting with you.
• At that meeting or meetings, an ADRC counselor can be expected to:
  • Learn what you already know about IRIS and Family Care so they may be most helpful to you;
  • Present additional information about the organizations, based upon your interest; for example:
    • Websites for each ICA, Family Care, or Family Care Partnership organization authorized to serve you within Dane County;
    • Lists of service providers within each Family Care or Family Care Partnership organization;
    • Location of home office, as well as local Dane County office;
    • Other counties in which the organization works;
    • Legal status (For Profit or Non Profit);
    • Average number of members that the Family Care Care Managers, or IRIS Consultants typically work with;
    • Other brief information the state DHS allows the ADRC to share about each particular IRIS Consultant Agency, Family Care or Family Care Partnership organization;
  • Inform you of the date by which you must make a selection of an organization in order to receive services from IRIS, Family Care or Family Care Partnership;
  • If you are interested in IRIS, inform you of the IRIS Initial Monthly Budget estimate. If you are currently receiving services, we suggest you obtain that information now from your Support Broker;
  • Inform you of the month in which your services will be allowed to transition from Dane County to the program you select;
  • After you make your selection, the ADRC will share your signed enrollment form with the agency you select so they may arrange to meet with you. The agency you selected will contact you shortly after they receive that form.

The Dane County ADRC is an agency with a wealth of experience and resources on long term care. They will be adding and training a number of limited term employees to help with the volume of enrollment counseling that will begin this fall.  We believe you will find the counselors to be helpful and respectful in supporting you as you inform them of your initial selection of an IRIS, Family Care or Family Care Partnership organization.

For more information on the Dane County ADRC, see http://www.daneadrc.org . For continued updates on useful information before, during, and after enrollment counseling, visit the LOV Dane website.

July 23, 2017