Arizona Long Term Care System

Once Sadie qualified for AZ'a Early Intervention Program, which got her services like Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Speech, the next step was to apply for Long Term Care (ALTCS). It was explained to me that acceptance into ALTCS was based on need, it is a point system. Based on Sadie's diagnoses, and her ability to do certain age-appropriate things or not, she would earn a certain amount of points. She had to reach 40 points in order to receive ALTCS care. We first applied when Sadie was 4 months, however, the screening wasn't done until 6 months (yay for how fast the government works). Even though Sadie could not roll or sit and she was barely smiling she was denied. Unfortunately, there were not points given or questions asked about if she screams in the car everytime we go somewhere or if she sleeps through the night therefore letting me sleep through the night. I almost apealed the decision, but my advocate (also called a support coordinator) told me we can just reapply...as many times as we want until we get in. She also told me the next list of skills was for 9 months, so we should start the process when Sadie is 8 months so that we'll be considered for the next skills set. And the more Sadie CAN'T do, the more points she'll get. We did what we were told and called around 8 months to get the ball rolling again. At this point we were desperate.

I bet you're wondering why ALTCS is so important and why we want to get into that system so badly. There are a number of reasons, actually.


1. Right now we are eligible for services through the Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) Early Intervention Program (AZEIP), which covers birth to 3 years old. This program gets us therapies. However, after recent legislation was passed, a program called "Family Cost Participation" was instated. Where therapies used to be 100% covered by the state, now we are required to pay a percentage of them based on our income. Starting in November, we were told we were responsible for 35% of the cost of therapies. This is after insurance is billed. As you can imagine, having 3+ therapies a week, this can get pretty pricey. So, for the month of December I've lessened Sadie's therapies. This Family Cost Participation also applies to any equipment recommended or needed for therapies, which Sadie will eventually need. However, if you have ALTCS you are exempt, and the state completely picks up the tab.

2. Being enrolled in ALTCS includes state healthcare coverage. I have become very familiar with insurance billing in the last year as you can imagine, so this means that first our private insurance is billed, then the state provided health insurance pays the rest. This includes prescriptions, hospital services, triage, equipment, etc. As you can imagine, this is a HUGE financial burden lifted from families (like ours) who have a child who is going to need these kinds of services her entire life.

3. The state will provide and pay for 720 hours of respite a year. This is really the biggest reason we want ALTCS right now. This means that someone will come help me. As someone once told me, it's basically glorified babysitting. Right now Sadie is NOT able to really go out and run errands with me. Although the car screaming is getting better, taking her to the store, the post office, whatever, just isn't practical. A couple weeks ago, we put her in the stroller and took her to Costco. She loves her stroller, so we didn't think it'd be a problem. I think it was visually too stimulating, and maybe the way the noise bounced off the walls...she was overstimulated pretty quickly and couldn't handle it. It's probably a similar situation for any store she enters. Having someone come over and watch Sadie for a couple hours just so I can get some work done, would be so helpful. I have even heard stories of respite workers even coming and helping with chores; vacuuming or cooking or laundry, things like that. In my imagination a respite caregiver must come with wings and a halo, because she would seem heaven-sent.

Even though we began the application process when Sadie was 8 months old, we just had her interview a couple of weeks ago. I was told to "encourage" Sadie to have a bad day when the person comes over. Don't clean the house. Look as stressed out as possible. And DON'T make Sadie look like she's doing great (even though in my mind, as her mother, she is!). The goal is to give this person a picture of a family who NEEDS to be in ALTCS. Sadie wasn't great when the lady came over. She needed a nap, and I explained that I'd been waiting for the lady to get there (she was a half hour late) because in order to nap, I had to be holding Sadie and if I was interrupted by the doorbell that would be bad. But by that time Sadie was beyond able to nap, she fell asleep for 2 minutes then woke up all happy. (I hate when she does that because it's so deceiving...it only lasts 20-30 minutes before she's horrible again) The lady asked me all the questions, and as I answered that Sadie can't do this and can't do that, she said, "is this the first time you've applied for ALTCS?" I told her no and that we were denied the first time. She was shocked.

We had a conversation about Sadie's diagnoses and how you don't grow out of CP or get cured of it. We talked about what CVI (cortical visual impairment) meant for Sadie's vision long term. And she couldn't believe we had to apply twice with those kinds of diagnoses. I also mentioned that Sadie is 10 months now, and she still can't do any of the things on the 6 month skill list they came out with before. She told me she will make sure we get approved this time around. yay!!

Just last week I got the calls telling me we've been approved and we're now in ALTCS! hooray! I even have a list of agencies to call for respite. My support coordinator immediately pushed through approval for 8 hours a week for respite so that we could get that ball rolling immediately when we return from Oregon. This news is such a relief for me and for our family, and I am excited to see where it takes us.