Very Important Action YOU Can Take on Community Classes TODAY!!! - Wednesday April 24, 2024
From our Coalition Member and Self-Direction Broker Ken Siri:
Very Important Action YOU Can Take on Community Classes TODAY!!!
Time is of the essence for this ACTION so please take note.
1. OPWDD put out an ADM for comment on Community Classes. You can read it HERE:
2. This ADM will delegate power to Fiscal Intermediaries to “regulate” community classes following unwritten guidance and place a limit an individual’s right to choose their own supports and services. This ignores “person centered planning”. You can read replies from SOYAN and the Jim Karpe’s outline for Coalition for Self-Direction (C4SD).
3. TAKE ACTION – Please comment today and tomorrow by emailing a reply to OPWDD’s Regulatory Unit - rau.unit@opwdd.ny.gov - and Self-Direction Redesign Team - self.direction.redesign@opwdd.ny.gov
You do not need to write a formal cited reply. Just email both email addresses above and use the points below that are relevant to you, and/or create your own comments. But please email TODAY.
Cheers,
Ken Siri
Response points to use in your emails:
1) I am disappointed with this ADM as OPWDD is not providing clearer guidelines aligned with the concepts of Self-Direction BUT giving its agents, the Fiscal Intermediaries, authority to make decisions that should be made by the state agency.
2) The proposed ADM fails to safeguard the due process rights of Self-Direction participants seeking reimbursement for IDGS, OTPS, and FRR that align with their Life Plan. OPWDD has responded that individuals do not have the right to due process since denial of a class is not denial of the SERVICE of IDGS. Instead, OPWDD has suggested that the individual FI needs to create its own “review process” with no opportunities for individuals to appeal beyond the FI.
3) The proposed ADM would relinquish OPWDD’s oversight of its vendors: the Fiscal Intermediaries. It is understood that Fiscal Intermediaries as OPWDD authorized vendors are to provide administrative supports and fiscal accounting, reporting and Medicaid compliance (page 2,SD Guidance). OPWDD’s solution is the creation of required membership for Fiscal Intermediaries in “communities of practice”. While this might increase consistency in decision making among FIs, it does not ensure the decision-making is in alignment with OPWDD and CMS regulations and guidance documents. Further, it ignores the potential for Fiscal Intermediaries to have a conflict of interest by denying access to community based activities and rather, promoting their agency’s in-house Day Programs. By demanding the Fiscal Intermediaries create and participate in communities of practice, OPWDD is mandating increased workload without additional funding.Where does OPWDD get the authority to relinquish oversight of its vendor?
4) This added authority is beyond the scope of FIs role within the confines of the HCBS 1915c Waiver. Fiscal consequences to FIs who potentially might approve community classes that potentially might be challenged by an audit have resulted in decision making and refusals that are far more restrictive than the OPWDD guidance documents or the waiver.
5) Community Class (Community Classes & Publicly Available Training/Coaching) criteria need to be re-evaluated, as subjective rules have been applied restricting choice, access to meaningful community-based experiences that are consistent with the individual’s Life Plan, goals, needs and preferences. Some of these arbitrary examples include concerns that the classes duplicate other HCBS Waiver services, duration or frequency of classes, composition of class attendees, topical nature of class experience, and demand that “learning” needs to be documented. This deliberate and finite authority to approve/disapprove an individual’s chosen IDGS community activity that aligns with their Life Plan is neglectful by OPWDD.
