YES
Youth Empowerment Services
A Medicaid Waiver Program for Children
with Severe Emotional Disturbance
June 11,2012
Mental Health Connection
What is the YES Waiver?
The YES (Youth Empowerment Services) Waiver is a 1915c
Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services Waiver
that allows for more flexibility in the funding of
intensive community-based services to assist children
and adolescents with severe emotional disturbances to
live in the community with their families.
Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS)
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Medicaid Waiver Basics
• Provide home and community-based services to children
who otherwise need institutional care (e.g., psychiatric
inpatient care) or whose parents would turn to state
custody for care
• Must be cost neutral to Medicaid (average Medicaid
service cost with waiver less than or equal to average
Medicaid service cost w/o waiver)
• A few states use 1915(c) waivers to serve children with
severe emotional disturbance
Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS)
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Goals
• Reducing the out-of –home placement and inpatient
psychiatric treatment by all child-serving agencies.
• Providing a more complete continuum of communitybased services and supports.
• Ensuring families have access to parent partners and
other flexible non-traditional support services as
identified in a family-centered planning process.
• Preventing entry into the foster care system and
relinquishment of parental custody.
• Improving the clinical and functional out-comes of
children and adolescents.
Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS)
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Potential Participants/Eligibility
To participate in the YES Waiver, the child or adolescent must meet the
following eligibility criteria:
• Age 3-18;
• Reside in Tarrant county and in a non-institutional setting with the
individual’s legally authorized representative (LAR); or in the
individual’s own home or apartment, if legally emancipated
• Be eligible for Medicaid, under a Medicaid Eligibility Group included in
the approved waiver. Parents income is not included in this eligibility
process.
• Meet DSHS clinical guidelines and be reasonably expected to qualify for
inpatient care under the Texas Medicaid inpatient psychiatric admission
guidelines, as defined in the waiver, in the absence of waiver services
• Choose, or have the LAR choose, the waiver program services as an
alternative to care in an inpatient psychiatric facility, in accordance with
the provisions of the waiver.
Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS)
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Waiver Services
• Respite
• Minor Home Modifications
• Community Living Supports
• Non-Medical Transportation
• Family Supports
• Paraprofessional Services
• Specialized Psychiatric
Observation
• Professional services
• Supportive Family Based
Alternatives
• Transitional Services
• Adaptive Aids & Supports
Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS)
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Waiver Entry Timeframe
• Once the LAR or client has phoned the interest line and left
their contact information they will be contacted within 24
hours .
• If demographic criteria is met, a Licensed Professional
Counselor will contact the family to arrange the
clinical/Medicaid eligibility assessment. Once all necessary
documentation is received the assessment is sent into the
State for approval of the Waiver services. This process may
take up to 2-3 weeks.
• Waiver treatment team will initiate services with client and
family immediately following State approval.
Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS)
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Service Initiation
To initiate Waiver services the interested youth
or LAR must contact the Interest Line .
Interest Line:
817-569-5600
Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS)
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Discussion
Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS)
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Contact Information
Brandice Mueller (MHMR)
Kim Garrett (YAP)
817-569-5900
817-446-3866
YES Waiver Website
www.dshs.state.tx.us/mhsa/northstar
Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS)
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