Office for Civil Rights
New Freedom Initiative - Disability Most Integrated Setting - The Olmstead Decision
Please note that documents in PDF format require Adobe's Acrobat Reader
What's New
August 17, 2004 - CMS State Medicaid Directors Letter on "Money Follows the Person" Principle Encourages States to Give Medicaid Beneficiaries More Control Over Long-Term Care Services - CMS Press Statement
July 2004 - Department of Health and Human Services Office on Disability publishes progress report on HHS New Freedom Initiative activities http://www.hhs.gov/od/
July 22, 2004 - Executive Order: Individuals with Disabilities in Emergency Preparedness
July 9, 2004 - HHS Approves Texas Plan To Help More Disabled Individuals At Home
July 7, 2004 - Statement by Tommy G. Thompson Secretary of Health and Human Services Regarding the 14th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act
June 3, 2004 - HHS Identifies States for Medicare Demonstration of New, Less Restrictive Homebound Definition
May 28, 2004 - HHS Expands Demonstrations to Recruit and Retain Personal Assistance Workers for People with Disabilities
March 23, 2004 - The 2004 Progress Report: The President's New Freedom Initiative for People with Disabilities http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/newfreedom/toc-2004.html
January 6, 2004 - CMS has redesigned and expanded its Promising Practices web page with new case studies on systems reform efforts to facilitate community integration of people with disabilities. More information at: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/promisingpractices/default.asp
- The Department of Health and Human Services New Freedom Initiative Page http://www.hhs.gov/newfreedom/init.html
- November 19, 2003 - Materials for the CMS New Freedom Initiative Open Door Forum entitled "Future Direction of Home and Community Based Services" may be accessed at: www.cms.hhs.gov/newfreedom
- November 5, 2003 - HHS Office on Disability (OD) co-sponsored with HUD, Fannie Mae, CMS and NIH a Symposium on Home ownership for Persons with Disabilities Webcast. To access this Symposium's resource materials go to: http://www.hhs.gov/od/webcast.html. Questions about homeownership or other affordable housing issues may be directed to the OD website at: http://www.hhs.gov/od/contactus.html
- October 30, 2003 - HHS to Award Individuals During Celebration of National Disability Employment Awareness Month http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2003pres/20031030a.html
October 2, 2003 - HHS Awards $33 Million to States, Other Organizations to Help People with Disabilities http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2003pres/20031002a.html
October 2, 2003 - HHS Launches Demonstrations to Recruit and Retain Personal Assistance Workers to Help People with Disabilities http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2003pres/20031002.html
September 25, 2003 - Statement by Tommy G. Thompson, Secretary of Health and Human Services Regarding the 13th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2003pres/20030725b.html
September 22, 2003 - HHS Awards $9.3 Million to Help States Develop New Aging and Disability Resource Centers http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2003pres/20030922a.html
September 17, 2003 - CMS Dear State Medicaid letter on promoting the principle "Money follows the Person" http://www.cms.hhs.gov/states/letters/smd91703.pdf
New Freedom Initiative Activities
- HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson Urges States to Continue to Expand Home and Community Based Care for Disabled Residents, Supports "Funding Follows the Person" Model - August 12, 2002 http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2002pres/20020812.html
- July 22, 2003 - The President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health Delivers Final Report to White House http://www.samhsa.gov/news/cl_mhfinalreport.html
- "Delivering on the Promise: OCR's Compliance Activities Promote Community Integration," summarizing the satisfactory resolution of more than 100 "most integrated setting" complaints filed with OCR by individuals with disabilities. OCR is producing this document in accord with HHS' commitment to broadly disseminate individual accounts of how civil rights activities have facilitated the community integration of people with disabilities http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/complianceactiv.html
- The Department of health and Human Services New Freedom Initiative Page http://www.hhs.gov/newfreedom/init.html On March 25, 2002 HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson presented to President Bush reports from nine federal agencies entitled "Delivering on the Promise: Compilation of Individual Federal Agency Reports of Actions to Eliminate Barriers and Promote Community Integration". The reports, published on the HHS website www.hhs.gov/newfreedom, outline more than 400 specific solutions agencies can implement to support community living for the nearly 54 million Americans living with disabilities. The reports stem from the first comprehensive federal review of barriers preventing people with disabilities from living in their communities instead of in institutions which was undertaken in response to President Bush's Executive Order on Community-based Alternatives for People with Disabilities and the President's New Freedom Initiative. This page also includes the Preliminary report, submitted on December 21, 2001.
Recent HHS Grants and Activities to Promote Community Integration
- October 30, 2003 HHS Announces More Than $8 Million in Medical Reserve Corps Grants
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2003pres/20031030.html
- October 2, 2003 HHS Awards $33 Million to States, Other Organizations to Help People with Disabilities (October 2, 2003)
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2003pres/20031002a.html
- October 2, 2003 HHS Launches Demonstrations to Recruit and Retain Personal Assistance Workers to Help People with Disabilities
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2003pres/20031002.html
- September 22, 2003 HHS Awards $9.3 Million to Help States Develop New Aging and Disability Resource Centers
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2003pres/20030922a.html
- April 15, 2003: HHS announces promising findings from a demonstration project jointly supported by HHS and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation on self-directed services for persons with disabilities
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2003pres/20030415.html
- March 11, 2003: HHS approves South Carolina Medicaid plan to enable people with disabilities to control their care at home
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2003pres/20030311.html
- February 24, 2003: HHS awards $2.5 million to five states to enable more disabled persons to work
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2003pres/20030224.html
- February 20, 2003: HHS to provide home health quality information to improve quality of care provided by home health agencies
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2003pres/20030220.html
- February 12, 2003: HHS approves Florida Independence Plus waiver to allow more people with disabilities to control their care
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2003pres/20030212.html
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Olmstead Initiatives
Reference Information
OLMSTEAD v. L. C. (98-536) - Supreme Court Decision
Transcript of OCR's July 16, 2001 Olmstead Housing Technical Assistance Call
Last revised: September 8, 2004
|