Three significant changes are on the horizon that will impact almost all individuals receiving services from the Developmental Disabilities Administration (DDA).
If you or your family member receives services through one (or more) of the following programs, you can expect changes to what and how services are delivered:
- Individual & Family Services (IFS) will become a Home & Community Based Services waiver.
- Personal Care will become a new state plan program called Community First Choice (CFC).
- Home & Community Based Services (HCBS) waivers must comply with new federal regulations for a person-centered approach to planning and the delivery of services in a (newly defined) integrated setting.
Why are these CHANGES happening?
The first two changes come at the direction of our state legislature and will bring in more federal funding, which will serve thousands of individuals on DDA’s No Paid Services caseload.
The third change is a result of new federal Medicaid rules intended to reinforce a person-centered approach to planning and to ensure that covered services are fully integrated into the community.
What will be DIFFERENT or the SAME about services?
- First, and most importantly, no one will lose services or have their service amounts reduced as a result of these changes.
- No one on a HCBS will lose his/her waiver enrollment.
- Most clients will be happy to learn that they might have more services (such as Medicaid coverage for those transitioning to an IFS waiver, and more flexibility to choose from a menu of services).
These changes will begin to take place in the spring of 2015, and continue into 2017 and beyond. Planning is already underway. Look for more information at informingfamilies.org as more details emerge in the coming weeks and months.
