What is a Support Broker?
Our Support Brokers specialize in a wide range of support services to assist you and your family in balancing and improving all aspects of your life including social, emotional, financial, mental, and physical needs. Our Support Brokers are incredibly knowledgeable about residential services, DVR and vocational services, Daily Living Skills Training, and future planning and will help you navigate and implement these services in whatever capacity works best for you.
Our Disability Support Specialists
We’ve taken support brokering a step further by creating a team of Disability Support Specialists (DSS) who provide a wider array of support services, beyond the traditional support broker role. Our Support Brokers undergo direct training from our Division Directors, receiving training in job development, team leadership, future planning, and housing counseling services with a person-centered curriculum.
Each member of our DSS team:
- Is knowledgeable about state and local systems and services for supported populations
- Has excellent verbal and written communication skills to assist you in pursuing your needs
- Understands the ins and outs of Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, and Foodshare benefits, rules, and requirements
- Stays on top of updates for Community Waiver programs like IRIS, Family Care, Family Care Partnership, and the Children’s Long Term Support Medicaid Waiver
- Actively networks with providers in your community to meet your goals effectively
- Readily reports any issues of abuse or neglect to proper parties
All of these skills allow our DSS team to creatively work with you to find and secure the most appropriate and cost effective supports you need to meet your goals.
Getting Started with Our Support Broker Program
After we’ve connected, our Intake Coordinator will meet with you, your guardian, and/or your IRIS Consultant or Case Manager to gather information about your needs and how we can best assist you in meeting your goals. They will then share what they’ve learned with our team so we can partner you with the DSS on our team that will best fit your needs, lifestyle, and goals. Together, we’ll set up a timeline for starting support services and help pursue authorization through your Medicaid Waiver program or set up a private pay agreement. Once we’ve taken care of these details, we begin our collaboration, either in-person, by phone, or virtually, to create a strategy together!
Meeting Your DSS
When you work with Creative Solutions of Wisconsin for your support broker needs, you’ll begin by meeting your new DSS to discuss the details of your goals, care planning, and support needs. During that first meeting your DSS will work with you to establish goals, to organize next steps toward those goals, and to establish a foundation for your working relationship. There may be some paperwork involved in that first meeting, but the goal is to get to know you, to get to know your team, and to learn about how you will work together to meet your goals.
Customized Support Broker Services to Meet Your Unique Needs
Creative Solutions of Wisconsin offers tailored support broker services customized to meet the unique needs of each of our clients. Our support brokers will work with you and your family to identify your goals, find and blend support programs and systems to meet your needs, and give you the tools and language for effective and informed care-related decision making.
Our experienced Support Brokers can help with:
- Navigating Community Waiver Services
- Developing care teams, and recruiting agencies to serve specific areas of care (residential, vocational, mental health, behavioral support, etc.)
- Assist in recruiting and retaining privately hired workers and/or private duty nursing staff
- Assist in securing affordable housing
- Facilitate care team meetings
- Assist in negotiating quality services from current providers
- Assist in finding specialty medical providers and medical equipment
- Assist in securing, monitoring, and maintaining Medicaid, Foodshare, Social Security, and other benefits
- Train guardians & clients in navigation of benefits monitoring and maintenance
- Advocate during reviews and appeals of benefits or services that have been denied or reduced
Planning That Centers You
At Creative Solutions of Wisconsin, our clients are the director of their own support services. We will follow the guidance and goals set by you and/or your family, guardian, supported decision maker, all while offering creative strategies, resources, and supports for your support team to explore. We will respect your decisions of and will not influence you to make choices based solely on what we think you should do. Our Support Broker services focus on:
Self-determination and independence
Person-centered planning
Providing clear, detailed program and system information
Following relevant policies and relaying updates succinctly
Finding effective solutions to meet individual needs
Effectively navigating conflict around decision making
An Important Note on Support Services and Support Brokering
Participants of a Medicaid Waiver program are entitled to receive both support broker services and other support services. It is important to know, however, that those services cannot be provided at the same time by the same provider. Creative Solutions of Wisconsin is approved to provide support broker services, along with other support services, with certain safeguards in place. Specifically, when Creative Solutions agrees to provide support broker services to a Medicaid Waiver participant, they will exclusively provide support broker services. However, if a participant independently elects to receive other support services from Creative Solutions, the agency will terminate its support broker agreement with the participant and then will provide only the selected support services to that participant.
Let’s Talk About Your Needs and Goals
We’re here to be an integral part of your support team. That means getting to know you and finding out exactly what you want so we can get there together. Let’s connect and get started!