TO:               DDA Stakeholders

FROM:          Evelyn Perez, Assistant Secretary

SUBJECT:    Enacted 2018 Supplemental Budget

Recently, Governor Inslee signed the 2018 Supplemental budget into law.  We were pleased to see a budget that charts a course of significant changes that will improve DDA’s service delivery system.  Listed below are some of the significant budget items that are included in the final budget.*

• Individual Provider Management:  The Individual Provider Employment Administrator model shifts administrative support of IPs from the state to a private vendor, allowing the department to keep its central focus on client well-being.  Beginning July 2020, the vendor would provide Financial Management Services and co-employer functions to clients receiving in-home personal care from an IP.  This will centralize management of the IP workforce, including controls of IP overtime and allow DSHS case resource managers to focus on the clinical aspects of case management, including health, safety, and avoiding unnecessary utilization of hospital and institutional stays.  ($327,000 GF-S; $807,000 Total Funds; 0.8 FTE)
• RHC Medicaid Compliance:  This funding adds 146 FTE to help meet health and safety, active treatment, client rights and other federal requirements.  It is assumed that two cottages will close by FY21 as a result of declining census.  ($7.8M GF-S; $15.6M Total Funds; 106.5 FTE)
• SOLA Community Options:  Over a three-year period, starting in state fiscal year 2019, 47 new SOLA placements are created for people choosing to transition from an RHC.  ($1.4M GF-S; 2.7M Total Funds; 11.1 FTE)
• Electronic Visit Verification (EVV)/21st Century Cures Act:  It is assumed that the state will not meet the deadline of January 1, 2019 to implement an EVV system for in-home personal care services mandated by the Cures Act.  Funding is provided to begin development on an information technology solution that will ultimately bring the state into compliance, and funding for the assumed penalty assessed for non-compliance in the form of reduced federal Medicaid matching funds.  ($645,000 GF-S; $834,000 Total Funds)
• Supported Living Tiered Rates:  As of January 2019, a new rate structure goes into place, paying a daily rate through a tiered structure rather than one based on hours of care per day.  ($623,000 GF-S; $1.2M Total Funds)
• Consolidated Maintenance Operations:  Additional staff are added to address the deterioration and degradation of the RHC facilities and address regulatory compliance issues related to the structures.  ($325,000; $650,000 Total Funds; 3.5 FTE)
• Parent to Parent Expansion:  This funding is to enhance existing Parent-to-Parent programs and establish programs in Okanogan and Whitman Counties ($290,000 GF-S)
• SEEDS Program:  Funds are provided to support job training at the Support Education Empowerment Disability Solutions (SEEDS) program.  ($75,000 GF-S)
• Personal Needs Allowance:  The Personal Needs Allowance (PNA) is the amount of a Medicaid client’s own income that he or she is allowed to keep to spend on personal items.  The PNA for Medicaid clients in residential and institutional settings is increased to $70 per month as of January 1, 2019.  The PNA will also increase annually with future adjustments.  ($44,000 GF-S: $93,000 Total Funds)

For more details on the 2018 Supplemental budget here is a link to the bill (DDA’s Section 205):  2018 Supp budget bill.  If you have any questions regarding the 2018 Supplemental Budget or other results of the legislative session that affected DDA, please contact Luisa Parada-Estrada at 360-725-3469 or ParadLA@dshs.wa.gov. 

Thank you for the work that you do every day to continue to transform lives, achieving the best possible outcomes for individuals with ID/DD and their families.

*Although SHB 1792 (Supported Living Investigations) was funded in the budget, the Legislature did not pass the bill before session ended, so DDA will not receive the money to pay for any new supported living investigators.