C.S. v. ODHS: Temporary Freeze to Home Care Cuts
On June 13, 2019, the U.S. District Court accepted a joint update from DHS—ODDS and DRO, and ordered the parties to give another update in six months.
Disability Rights Oregon will work with ODDS to ensure the new assessment tool is finalized in a way that will meet the needs of Oregonians with I/DD. DRO is committed to ensuring that ODDS puts in place a fair and transparent process for getting exceptional services, and will continue to make sure that when individuals’ services change, they get fair notice.
Key updates
The preliminary injunction, which froze cuts to in-home care services, remains in effect. In-home service hours cannot be reduced at this time.
ODDS has been using the new assessment tool, the Oregon Needs Assessment (ONA), since July 2018. The ONA is being used to gather information about the person which will be used to help plan services.
ODDS will not set hours based on the ONA yet. ODDS is currently targeting the summer of 2020 to start using the ONA to set hours.
Setting Service Hours
Once the ONA is completed and ready to be used to set service hours, people who receive services through ODDS will be divided into separate service groups. For people who receive in-home services, an individual’s service group will correspond to a range of support hours available to them.
Contractors from Human Services Research Institute (HSRI), with input from ODDS staff and stakeholders, have begun the work of developing service groups for the ONA.
In May 2018, HSRI began consumer record reviews with ODDS and stakeholders to develop and evaluate proposed service groups. HSRI found through the records review process that the ONA had some limitations in identifying individuals with extraordinary behavioral needs and assigning them to the appropriate service group. As a result, HSRI proposed some changes to criteria to address this issue.
HSRI plans a second records in the summer of 2019 to help develop the hours range for each service group.
DRO is monitoring this process.
Exceptions Process
Some individuals cannot meet their needs with the in-home hours allotted by the assessment tool. ODDS has a longstanding process of getting additional hours on an exceptional basis. In the lawsuit, DRO challenged this process as being too opaque and standardless to afford individuals legally required due process.
With input from DRO, ODDS has also begun the process of redeveloping its exceptions process. ODDS plans hold a Rule Advisory Committee (RAC) on the draft exceptions rules in the summer of 2019.
