The CEO of Cass, Incorporated, in Atlantic, has issued a statement with regard to a new Medicaid “Settings Rule.” Glenda Farrier says in recent years, primary funding for organizations like CASS Incorporated across the country has gone under Medicaid, the governmental insurance program for people meeting its income guidelines and for people with disabilities. CASS currently receives over 90% of its funding for services from this federal program, which is administered by the state.

The recently introduced “Settings Rule” declares Medicaid will no longer fund services for people with disabilities provided in a “segregated” setting after March 17th, 2019. The action upholds the intent of a Supreme Court ruling called the Olmstead Decision and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, both of which refer to the segregation of people with disabilities away from the general population—therefore, a civil rights issue.

CASS Incorporated serves about 140 people in its comprehensive array of service offerings and has been a community rehabilitation provider since 1977. Our community employment and residential support services are done entirely in the community. Those services, by definition, are considered “integrated” as they are provided to the people we serve where they live and work, among the general population and within the community. Therefore, those services are compliant with the new Settings Rule.

Our segregated services would be those provided at our sheltered workshop and our day activity programs at our 7th Street location. These services are considered segregated because the majority of people attending at these locations are people with disabilities and the location itself is not a part of the general community.

Therefore, over the next four years, and in compliance of the Settings Rule effective date of March 17, 2019, CASS, Incorporated will be redefining how its services will be provided within the community and implementing that transformation. The Medicaid Settings Rule is nation wide and will create a shift in how services to people with disabilities will be provided all over the country.

(Press Release)