HOW TO GET WHAT YOU NEED
FROM COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH
By Martha A. Churchill
1. WHAT
What do you need? State it clearly in a
letter to the case manager. According to federal law, there are
quite a few things that CMH is required to do for consumers who
are either mentally ill or developmentally disabled. Find
out more about this by clicking on What
Medicaid Pays For.
2. WHEN
When do you need it? If you need it right
away, say so, and explain briefly why it is urgent. Otherwise,
give a time limit. "I need it within 60 days."
3. WHO
Who will do it? Do not volunteer to do it
yourself, because then the CMH case manager will do nothing to
help you. Tell the CMH case manager that you want him/her to do
it. It may seem cruel to ask someone who is so busy to help you,
but that is the way the system works. If you don’t ask, you
won’t get it.
4. PCP
Ask the case manager for a PCP meeting. That
stands for "Person Centered Planning." During the
meeting, ask again for what you want. If the next PCP meeting
isn’t supposed to take place until next year, just tell the
case manager you want another one next week, and you don’t
want to wait until next year. They have an obligation under
federal law to give you a PCP meeting whenever you ask for one,
even if the last one was just a month ago.
5. REPORT
If you didn’t get a PCP report, ask for
one. If they fail to give you a report, that is a violation of
the consumer’s rights under federal Medicaid law. Make sure
the report promises that the case manager will do what you asked
for.
6. Medicaid Hearing
If the CMH case manager does not do
everything in steps 1-5 above, file a request for a Medicaid
Fair Hearing.
[For a complete copy of my
8-page written materials "How to get what you need from CMH
without being a pest," which I distributed at a seminar in
Traverse City, Michigan, click on TRAVERSE.]
