DD Advocate's Meeting TODAY!

The next Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Addictive Diseases DD Advocate's meeting will be held TODAY, December 11 from 2-4-pm at:
The Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities
2 Peachtree Street, Atlanta
Large Conference room on the 26th Floor.

The public is encouraged to attend these meetings.

Feel free to forward this to any members of an advocacy organization of which you may be a part and be sure to come to the meeting with all of your questions !!! Please confirm your attendance by email reply to Julia Bowen

AGENDA
1. NOW AND COMP waiver

a. With the time frame being 12 months to implement a new waiver, is CMS going to give a waiver for the time frame needed to get the new waiver up and running with full capacity ?

b. Expectation that it will be implemented by October, 2008 statewide

c. Can money be added to an individual's budget for additional services throughout the year ? Use this example to clarify and describe process and expectations of time frames for responsiveness
An individual has $1000 budgeted for respite but their primary care giver needs surgery so another $3000 will be needed to meet the need. Will they have to give up $3000 worth of other services? If the answer is no then what is the mechanism that kicks in to override the budget created by the SIS?

2. Support Coordination

a. Will it be a part of an annual budget ? For whom ?

b. Clarify the problem this would create since funding for this service has always been counted separate from direct services.

c. Since Support Coordination is estimated to have less than 12 units on average per person served but facts say that the averages presented are 7 per year for people in the NOW waiver and 10 in the COMP. If a person only has
7 months of SC service budgeted and they utilize the service 12 month, explain how this will not force them to make cuts elsewhere in their budget

3. Residential services

a. Update on process for providers needing new numbers, PA issues, delayed payments

b. What is the mechanism the state has in place to assure families of continued and appropriate services if these processes fail / continue to create significant delays for providers ?

4. Transportation

a. What arrangements have been made with transportation providers to ensure that people with disabilities will not have to commit 50% of their budget just to cover the cost of transportation?

5. Supported Employment Providers

a. Address waiting lists and solutions

6. Set meeting schedule for 2008