LINCOLN — Just over a year after Nebraska launched a new system to assess Nebraskans with intellectual and developmental disabilities seeking Medicaid assistance, a group of parents gathered to inform state officials about the negative impacts the change has had on their families. Mental health practitioner Carol Salber and physical therapist Tori Sorensen, both parents of participants in the system, presented Wednesday to Nebraska’s Developmental Disabilities Advisory Committee, noting multiple flaws in the state’s interRAI tool.

The interRAI system determines the level of publicly assisted care, services, and funding for Nebraskans with developmental disability waivers. Salber and Sorensen’s presentation identified seven errors in how the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services calculates what each participant receives, which they claimed could dramatically shift the funding and services doled out.

InterRAI uses a Case Mix Index chart to help determine which funding tier a participant should land in based on the complexity of their circumstances. Sorensen said Nebraska officials made several typos copying the Case Mix Index, and some of those errors impact both funding and eligibility of services for participants. One example in their presentation claimed that the errors could result in a participant receiving nearly $68,000 that they don’t need, while a different participant who is in need would lose out on that same amount.

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