• Medicaid coverage for out-of-state inpatient mental health treatment for children who are deaf, deafblind, or hard of hearing – HF2253/SF1861

Health and Human Services

Medicaid coverage for out-of-state inpatient mental health treatment for children who are deaf, deafblind, or hard of hearing – HF2253/SF1861

• Legislative Bill Information
• Actions To Take
• Summary of HF2253/SF1861 Bill – Video with ASL and Open Captions & Text Transcript

Legislative Bill Information

HF2253 (Reps. Lohmer, Abeler, Huntley) & SF1861 (Senators Benson, Fischbach, Higgins, Marty)

Actions To Take

• Attend 2 Hearings at the Capitol on Wednesday, February 29, 2012

HF2253/SF1861 will be heard at two committee meetings on Wednesday, February 29, 2012:

1. 10:30 am to 12:00 pm, Senate Committee on Health and Human Services, Room 15 in the Capitol Building
2. 12:30 pm to 2:00 pm, House Health and Human Services Finance Committee, Room 200 in the State Office Building (next to the Capitol Building)

Contact Mary Hartnett if you want to come and show support.

Information about visiting the State Capitol is available on our website.

• Contact Your Legislators

Contact your legislators and the committee members (see contact information below) and ask them to support the HF2253/SF1861 bill. Give them the following message:

“Please support HF2253/SF1861 to get Medicaid coverage for deaf, deafblind, and hard of hearing children who use American Sign Language as their first language and need accessible inpatient mental health treatment. This bill will help these children get effective mental health treatment at less cost to the state and keep them from falling through the cracks.”

Legislators to contact:

To find your legislators, visit the Who Represents Me website to get their names and contact information.

Contact the members of the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services

Contact the members of the House Health and Human Services Finance Committee

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Summary of HF2253/SF1861 Bill – Video with ASL and Open Captions & Text Transcript

[Graphic frame with text – SF1861/HF2253: Medicaid coverage for out-of-state inpatient mental health treatment for children who are deaf, deafblind, or hard of hearing]

[Person signing with open captions.]

Here in Minnesota, children who are deaf, deafblind or hard of hearing in need of mental health services and programs that are accessible in sign language typically do not have access to residential facilities that provide access in sign language or direct communication with staff.

What this means is that those children needing mental health services have three options.

1. They can attend a specialized, certified mental health residential facility to receive services in Minnesota. A certified residential facility in Minnesota costs $233.39 per day. However, since most facilities do not have signing staff, children who are deaf, deafblind or hard of hearing require interpreters. The interpreters must have specialized experience in mental health settings, which increases the costs significantly. At $70-$90 per hour for 14 hours per day, this amounts to $980 to $1,260 a day. On top of that, this cost is doubled because two interpreters must be provided to work each day. It can become costly. Additionally, children who are deaf, deafblind or hard of hearing participating in such programs are often the only deaf, deafblind or hard of hearing participants. This increases the likelihood that they will be isolated and not receive successful treatment. Including interpreting costs, the cost for a child who is deaf, deafblind or hard of hearing in a certified mental health facility is $2,193.39 to $2,753.39 per day. Minnesota has no residential mental health facility specializing in working with children who are deaf, deafblind or hard of hearing.
2. One (other) option is that the children can go to other states for programs, such as the National Deaf Academy in Florida. The National Deaf Academy specializes in serving children who are deaf or hard of hearing, and all of its staffers are fluent in sign language, removing the need for interpreters. Some Minnesotan parents have successfully advocated for participation in that program. Other states have negotiated rates that are between $425 and $640 a day.
3. The third option is to do nothing. Children who are deaf, deafblind or hard of hearing and are in need of mental health services are simply left alone and not helped.

How many students who are deaf, deafblind or hard of hearing in Minnesota need accessible mental health services?

The Department of Human Services Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services Division (DHHSD) estimates that two to four children annually benefit from residential mental health facilities. Some are covered by health insurance, but others’ costs are paid for by their home counties.

The National Deaf Academy has received 11 referrals from Minnesota, but only two have actually attended the program.

The solution to this is to amend MS 245.4882, changing state law so that Medicaid coverage for out-of-state inpatient treatment facilities that specialize in providing mental health services to children who are deaf, deafblind or hard of hearing and use American Sign Language as their first language; facilities such as the National Deaf Academy in Florida would be covered by Medicaid. Children will then receive specialized services and programs from professionals who can sign.

This will lead to greater success, and the cost would be significantly less.

[Graphic frame with text – Legislative hearing: February 29 / For more information, visit www.mncdhh.org / Video provided by Commission of Deaf, DeafBlind and Hard of Hearing Minnesotans]

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The accessibility concepts outlined in this course can also be applied to other Microsoft Office products such as Excel and PowerPoint.

This course is made accessible through open captions, voiceovers, and Microsoft Word transcripts of audio content with video descriptions included.

Accessible Microsoft Word Transcript: Using Microsoft Word 2010 to Create Accessible Documents [48.68KB]

Back to Accessibility Video Series

The accessibility concepts outlined in this course can also be applied to other Microsoft Office products such as Excel and PowerPoint.

This course is made accessible through open captions, voiceovers, and Microsoft Word transcripts of audio content with video descriptions included.

Accessible Microsoft Word Transcript: Using Microsoft Word 2010 to Create Accessible Documents [48.68KB]

Back to Accessibility Video Series

The accessibility concepts outlined in this course can also be applied to other Microsoft Office products such as Excel and PowerPoint.

This course is made accessible through open captions, voiceovers, and Microsoft Word transcripts of audio content with video descriptions included.

Accessible Microsoft Word Transcript: Using Microsoft Word 2010 to Create Accessible Documents [48.68KB]

Back to Accessibility Video Series

The accessibility concepts outlined in this course can also be applied to other Microsoft Office products such as Excel and PowerPoint.

This course is made accessible through open captions, voiceovers, and Microsoft Word transcripts of audio content with video descriptions included.

Accessible Microsoft Word Transcript: Using Microsoft Word 2010 to Create Accessible Documents [48.68KB]

Back to Accessibility Video Series

This video is made accessible through open captions, voiceovers, and Microsoft Word transcripts of audio content with video descriptions included.

Accessible Microsoft Word Transcript: The Electronic Curb Cut Video [21.61KB]

The accessibility concepts outlined in this course can also be applied to other Microsoft Office products such as Excel and PowerPoint.

This course is made accessible through open captions, voiceovers, and Microsoft Word transcripts of audio content with video descriptions included.

Accessible Microsoft Word Transcript: Using Microsoft Word 2010 to Create Accessible Documents [48.68KB]

Back to Accessibility Video Series

• What accessible information technology (IT) is, and why it is important to the State of Minnesota and its employees, vendors, and customers. It’s the law now! (jump to section below)
• How to create accessible documents in Microsoft Word 2010. (jump to section below)
• How to create accessible websites and applications using WCAG 2.0 standards. (jump to section below)
• How to caption online videos. (jump to Video Captioning Essentials course)

These training resources are made accessible through open captions, voiceovers, and Microsoft Word transcripts of audio content with video descriptions included.

These training resources are especially useful if you are:

• A State of Minnesota employee or vendor who is responsible for information technology (IT), including online information, websites, and applications.
• A State of Minnesota customer who uses online state information and wants to know what to expect for accessibility.
• Somebody who needs to create accessible web content, even if it is not for the State of Minnesota.

Acknowledgements and Credits

The Commission of Deaf, DeafBlind, and Hard of Hearing Minnesotans (MNCDHH) advocated for the accessible technology standards bill signed into law on May 22, 2009.

This law requires the State of Minnesota to adopt Section 508 standards and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 for developing and maintaining accessible state information technology, including software, hardware, online information, and telecommunications.

In support of this law, MNCDHH and the state’s Office of Enterprise Technology have co-produced accessible video-based training resources with ZenMation to help State of Minnesota employees, vendors, and customers learn about the state’s IT accessibility standards and how to meet them.

Special thanks go to Senator Ann Rest, Representative Bill Hilty, Representative Phyllis Kahn, and Representative Torrey Westrom for their support of the 2009 legislation that created this mandate and provided allocated funding. Special thanks go to Representative Torrey Westrom, Senator Julianne Ortman, and Senator Julie Rosen for their leadership in supporting and maintaining this legislation in 2011.

Special thanks go to the state employees of MNCDHH, the Office of Enterprise Technology, and the Department of Human Services for participating as actors in the filming of this project.

Funds for this project were provided by the Telecommunications Access Fund through the Department of Commerce.

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What is Accessible Information Technology (IT)? (Online Video)

Watch this video to learn what accessible information technology (IT) is, and why it is important to the State of Minnesota. Learn what roles state employees and vendors have in making IT accessible, and what state customers can expect.

This video is made accessible through open captions, voiceovers, and Microsoft Word transcripts of audio content with video descriptions included.

Video: The Electronic Curb Cut
Accessible Microsoft Word Transcript: The Electronic Curb Cut Video [21.61KB]

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Creating Accessible Documents in Microsoft Word 2010 (Online Training Course)

The course on Using Microsoft Word 2010 to Create Accessible Documents provides online training in six modules with step-by-step instructions that demonstrate the proper formatting for accessible text, images, charts, graphs, tables, and forms.

The accessibility concepts outlined in this course can also be applied to other Microsoft Office products such as Excel and PowerPoint.

This course is made accessible through open captions, voiceovers, and Microsoft Word transcripts of audio content with video descriptions included.

• Video Module 1: Introduction to Accessible Documents
• Video Module 2: Formatting a Document
• Video Module 3: Formatting Tables
• Video Module 4: Creating Hyperlinks
• Video Module 5: Formatting Images, Charts and Graphs
• Video Module 6: Creating Accessible Forms

Accessible Microsoft Word Transcript: Using Microsoft Word 2010 to Create Accessible Documents [48.68KB]

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Creating Accessible Websites and Applications Using WCAG 2.0 Standards (Online Training Webinar)

The WCAG 2.0 Top Ten Check Points Webinar provides online training about ten popular areas of focus for building accessibility into web and application development.

Tips on understanding and applying Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0) are presented for the following areas:

1. Forms
2. Document structure
3. Navigation and links
4. Images and non-text elements
5. Tables
6. Mouse and keyboard issues
7. Client-side to server-side handling
8. Cues, instructions and error handling
9. Display adaptation
10. Site and process context

This webinar provides an introduction to WCAG 2.0, and is especially useful for web application developers, business analysts, and others who are responsible for making web content accessible.

This webinar is made accessible through open captions, voiceovers, and Microsoft Word transcripts of audio content with video descriptions included.

Webinar: WCAG 2.0 Top Ten Check Points
Accessible Microsoft Word Transcript: WCAG 2.0 Top Ten Check Points Webinar [44.12KB]

After watching the video at the above link, use your browser’s “Back” button to return to this page and, if you wish, provide feedback below.

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The accessibility concepts outlined in this course can also be applied to other Microsoft Office products such as Excel and PowerPoint.

This course is made accessible through open captions, voiceovers, and Microsoft Word transcripts of audio content with video descriptions included.

Accessible Microsoft Word Transcript: Using Microsoft Word 2010 to Create Accessible Documents [48.68KB]

Back to Accessibility Video Series