(Indianapolis, Ind.) – Yesterday, the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration announced the federal approval of a Medicaid waiver that will offer new hope to thousands of Hoosiers suffering from serious mental illnesses. The waiver, approved by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services late last week, gives Indiana Medicaid the authority to pay for acute inpatient stays in institutions for mental disease for individuals diagnosed with a serious mental illness. Until now, Medicaid law prevented funding from being used for inpatient SMI treatment at any hospital, nursing facility or other institution with more than 16 beds.