PDFThis is a legal opinion obtained by Charles Arndt from Terry S. Coleman, Esq. of Ropes and Gray, 1900 K Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20036. Mr. Coleman was legal Counsel and an Assistant Director of the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) the predecessor to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) under the Reagan and Bush I administrations. The opinion, from his extensive federal Medicaid background and experience, stated that both H.B. 94 and 405 as enacted by the Ohio General Assembly in 2001 were consistent with federal Medicaid policies and practices. TESTIMONY ON HOUSE BILL 94
PDFHouse Bill 94 was the State of Ohio Biennium Budget Bill for fiscal years 2002-2003. Charles Arndt and Lee Wedemeyer testified on the budget and presented an amendment that was the “County Boards of MR/DD Medicaid Redesign and Financial Leveraging Legislation”, which did in fact become an amendment to the state biennium budget. The concepts for the legislation was created and designed by Charles Arndt. It permits the use of approximately $300 million of local county taxpayer monies available to the boards to draw down annually $500 million of federal Medicaid funding and expand services to 15,000 people with developmental disabilities in the State of Ohio. Illinois Waiver Policy and Fiscal Analysis Recommendations
PDFIn August 2006, Charles Arndt conducted a thorough analysis, research and made significant recommendations to both the Illinois Division of Developmental Disabilities and the Illinois Institute for Public Policy for People with Disabilities on ways to reform policies, practices and funding toward best practices for the Illinois Home and Community based waiver for adults with developmental disabilities. Over forty state HCBS waivers were reviewed to develop the final recommendations and benchmark Illinois with Ohio and Pennsylvania as comparable demographic states. Advancing Employment
PDFThe Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities made an investment in Charles Arndt of Public Policy Impacts of Washington, D.C. (PPIWDC) and Michael Mayer of the Association for Community Therapeutic Supports (ACTS) of Raleigh, North Carolina in May 2007 to develop, produce, and deliver for Council a blueprint for Illinois… …of strategies and approaches to overcome barriers to shifting from segregated sheltered workshops and developmental training programs to individually supported employment models in integrated environments for people with developmental disabilities. Within this document is the Systems Analysis including Promising Policies and Practices for retooling employment in Illinois.
The methodology for the Systems Analysis including Promising Policies and Practices for retooling employment in Illinois toward advance supported employment focused on people. Meetings were scheduled and conducted with a representative sample of employment stakeholders including key appointed state and local officials, planning councils on developmental disabilities, schools and provider agencies, staff members, universities, businesses, advocacy organizations representing individuals with developmental disabilities, professional organizations, etc. to have dialogue about this initiative.
The process used by PPIWDC was to conduct face-to-face interviews, phone conferences and group meetings with a wide range of stakeholders within Illinois and in other key states and communities in Connecticut, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont and Washington. Innovative public policies and practices that advance supported employment and self-employment as a priority including programmatic and funding arrangements in support of such approaches were reviewed and included where appropriate with the mission of this analysis.