DDAWNY LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM 2012

Review the 1115 Waiver Application

DDAWNY requests legislative hearings and oversight of the People First Waiver Application and its implementation, as it constitutes a fundamental redesign of the OPWDD Service and Support Delivery model DDAWNY also requests sponsorship, co-sponsorship and support for legislation to create a person-centered quality assessment instrument to assess consumer satisfaction with services being delivered and measure quality outcomes. The legislation will also require the Commissioner to develop a database of all supports and services currently being provided in the community including housing and day and employment services, identifying gaps in the delivery of these supports and services, creating a prioritization of service and support need instrument in order to collect essential information necessary to ensure the success of the new service delivery model The People First Waiver is a fundamental redesign of the service delivery and funding model for services and supports for people with developmental disabilities OPWDD is seeking in part to control costs in order to establish a fiscally sustainable model. The People First Waiver is expected to control cost growth by developing and implementing care coordination in a managed care environment using individual resource allocations The function of care management will be the responsibility of not-forprofit providers with experience and expertise providing supports and services for people with developmental disabilities The individualized resource allocation will be developed based upon needs assessment instruments which have not yet been developed and the creation of person-centered plans based upon these as yet unproven assessment tools The comprehensive care plan will be developed using the needs assessment instruments and ongoing needs assessment processes regarding support and service needs of the individual and will be based on the individuals assessed strengths, needs, interests, health status, functional status and desired personal outcomes Financing of supports and services will no longer be based on where an individual lives or where he or she goes to receive services. Financing will be tied to the persons strengths and needs determined through a valid needs assessment process that will inform a resource allocation methodology. The Legislature needs to ensure the assessments are valid and the resource allocation methodology is fair to all people with developmental disabilities in need of supports and services

DDAWNY LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM 2012

Support additional OPWDD Community Bed Development in SY 2012-13

In particular, with a residential wait list of over 1000 in Western New York, DDAWNY requests that the Western New York delegation advocate for at least 100 new residential placements in WNY in the upcoming fiscal year for wait list families (10% of wait list WNY 1,031 including 232 ASAP) The Executive Budget supports limited new community bed development for out-of-state returnees, certain individuals aging out of the education system and individuals OPWDD is seeking to transition from Institutional Services to Community Residential Services At approximately $50,000 per 24/7 Voluntary Provider IRA placement, this will require a commitment of $5 Million plus capital costs associated with these additional residential community placement beds On a statewide basis, a 10% of wait list funding level would require a line add of around $55 million. Statewide list -11,760 including 4,007 ASAP NYC has wait list of 3,454 with 1,157 ASAP; Long Island wait list is 2,268 with 542 ASAP DDAWNY believes the Senate and Assembly should be equal partners in the development of a $55 million line add for this purpose The Executive budget proposes OPWDD All-Funds cash disbursements be increased by one percent. If OPWDD All-Funds cash disbursements are increased by four percent, the same level of growth allowed for Education and Department of Health funded Medicaid, spending on OPWDD supports and services for people with developmental disabilities could be increased by an additional $120 million

DDAWNY LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM 2012

Support for additional Family & Employment Services Funding

The Executive budget proposes to cut OPWDD funding for family support, employment services and other non-Medicaid-funded day service supports by $29.9 million The People First Initiative seeks to increase the work opportunities of persons with developmental disabilities. Supportive work costs approximately $2500 per person served by a voluntary provider; Work Centers costs approximately $7500 per person served by a voluntary provider DDAWNY asks the Legislature to restore this $29.9 million in funding and provide an additional line add of $10 million to support 1000 additional Supportive Work (SEMP) and Work Center opportunities

Support for an Increase in Work Opportunities for People with Developmental Disabilities

DDAWNY supports efforts to increase work opportunities, specifically: Enhance the service options within SEMP program models Broaden the definitions on how SEMP and employment are defined Provide individuals who are engaged in OPWDD day programs with the opportunity to become employed Allow providers to redesign group day habilitation programs in order to offer a flexible range of employment choices, provide vocational skills and career-directed activities, and assist individuals moving forward to realize greater independence in the community and economic self-sufficiency

DDAWNY LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM 2012

Refocus the OPWDD State Workforce

DDAWNY believes the state needs to refocus its agency operations. The Commissioner has indicated there will be no additional money coming into the system. It is the basis for the fundamental redesign of the system being proposed in the People First Waiver. The Executive Budget proposes to restructure oversight of the delivery of OPWDD services and supports. Regional Offices would have oversight of voluntary not-for-profit providers and a new State Office would have oversight of state-operated supports and services. The creation of two separate systems of oversight is costly and inefficient. Having the same agency oversee and presumably police bad or inadequate services and supports delivered by agency employees will be a conflict of interest and fails to protect people with developmental disabilities DDAWNY supports a properly managed redeployment of state employees to new tasks. These new tasks include using the new needs assessment tool being proposed to evaluate and fund the 126,000 individuals OPWDD is expected to serve; monitoring the quality of services and supports; operating a reformed financial platform; and ensuring the health and safety of individuals served in the new managed care system. At the same time the state workforce takes on these new tasks, DDAWNY supports the gradual shift, based upon the yearly attrition of the state OPWDD workforce, of service delivery from more expensive state-operated services and supports to the voluntary system. This shift will be a win- win for individuals receiving services and supports and the state workforce. This refocus will free up resources for additional service and support needs and protect the jobs of current state employees DDAWNY asks the WNY delegation to write letter a to the Governor directing the Commissioner to draft a plan to transfer state-operated services and supports to more efficient, less costly voluntary service and support providers as the state workforce transitions to other roles and responsibilities