Midterm Elections, Electronic Visit Verification Focus of Current Disability Advocacy Efforts
ATLANTA, GA (September 5, 2018) – Millions of registered voters across the country, including those with disabilities, will head to the polls on November 6, 2018 to cast their vote in the Midterm elections.
In Georgia, all of the state’s executive officers – including governor and lieutenant governor – are up for elections along with all 14 seats in the United States House of Representatives. Additionally, all seats for state senators and representatives are on the ballot, along with commissioners, city councils and more.
In its continued efforts of The Disability Vote Counts campaign, the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities (GCDD) is educating the more than 652,000 voting-age people with disabilities in Georgia on the political landscape of the 2018 midterms and local gubernatorial race.
“We want to remind and bring focus to the Georgia disability community that their vote is important and needs to be counted,” said Eric Jacobson, executive director of GCDD. “Medicaid, education, employment and housing are issues that impact people with disabilities, parents and caregivers, and voting is a way of advocating for those issues.
We want to know where our lawmakers stand on these issues like Medicaid because so many Georgians rely on it to help them pay for healthcare and home- and community-based services.”
Specifically, for Medicaid-funded personal care services, Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) is a public policy topic of concern. EVV is a technology that automates the gathering of service information by capturing time, attendance and care plan information entered by a home care worker at the point of care while helping reduce the occurrence of fraud in home care delivery.
In Georgia, EVV is implemented by the Department of Community Health (DCH). Georgians with disabilities or their loved ones who receive services from the SOURCE, CCSP, ICWP, NOW/COMP or GAPP waivers are encouraged to learn as much as possible about EVV.
Dawn Alford, GCDD Public Policy Director, said, “The time to voice your concern is now.” She added, “While the Georgia DCH says one of its goals for implementation of EVV is to improve the quality and access to care for Medicaid members, many serious concerns from advocates about potential problems with EVV remain.”
GCDD plans to release an advocacy resource specifically on EVV designed for families who will be directly impacted.
For more on GCDD’s Public Policy efforts read the summer edition of GCDD’s Making a Difference magazine online.
About the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities: The Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities (GCDD) is the State’s leader in advancing public policy on behalf of persons with developmental disabilities. Its mission is to bring about social and policy changes that promote opportunities for persons with developmental disabilities and their families to live, work, play and worship in Georgia communities. For more information, visit www.gcdd.org.
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For more information:
Hillary Hibben, Media Relations Director
Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities
404.657.2121 (office) | 470.698.3062 (cell)
