|
The COVID-19 virus has had a significant impact on state revenues, requiring substantial budget reductions. On May 13, the Office of Financial Management sent a directive to state agencies to propose options for reducing their General Fund-State (GF-S) expenditures from their current budgets by fifteen percent in state fiscal year 2021, which begins July 1. For DDA, that equates to over $140 million GF-S. Because nearly all of our expenditures are matched by federal Medicaid matching dollars, the total will actually be around double that amount.
The proposed reductions are extremely difficult and due to the economic decline are expected to match or exceed budget cuts of the Great Recession. We were guided by our mission, vision, and values to complete the directive set forth by OFM while attempting to have the least amount of impact to clients, providers and staff, we followed a few key principles:
- Prioritize individuals with the highest service needs.
- Keep a wide variety of services available.
- Preserve the service provider network.
- Preserve our workforce by proposing across the board hour reductions and implementing hiring, travel and purchasing freezes to avoid complete job loss.
- Aligning our reductions with the Department and Governor’s priorities.
Exceptional measures are being considered to meet this reduction target. Some will require further decisions and action to implement, including amendments to collective bargaining agreements, state law and administrative rules, or Medicaid state plans, among others. The DDA reduction options for state fiscal year 2021 can be broken out into five main categories:
-
Staffing costs: Options include unpaid furlough days. ($8.3M GF-S; $14.8M total funds)
-
Delay expansion or eliminate client service programs: Includes eliminating the Community Crisis Stabilization and Adult Family Home Meaningful Day programs and reducing Medicaid waiver capacity. ($26.6M GF-S; $48.8M)
-
Residential Habilitation Center cuts: Options include reducing staff positions, consolidating cottages and closing Rainier School entirely. Closing Rainier and transitioning all the clients actually costs more in FY21, but leads to savings in the next biennium. ($5.5M GF-S; $11.5M Total Funds)
-
Provider Rates: Savings is achieved by a rate cut for in-home providers, Adult Residential Care, Adult Family Homes, and employment and community integration providers capturing the additional 6.2 percent of enhanced Medicaid matching funds from July through September as savings. ($24.2M GF-S; $33.4M total funds)
-
Client Eligibility: Changing the level of ICF/IID in Washington’s Medicaid state plan to increase functional eligibility requirements will end services for thousands of Medicaid clients in home and community residential settings and RHCs; and a corresponding reduction of DDA staff. ($75M.3 GF-S; $150.5M total funds)
These are only proposals at this point, not enacted cuts, although DSHS has already enacted an agency-wide hiring freeze (with exceptions for positions responsible for client health and safety such as direct care providers in RHCs and state-operated living alternatives), a travel freeze and an equipment purchasing freeze. These are challenging times for everyone, and I want you to know how much I appreciate your efforts to continue to engage and serve people with developmental disabilities and their families under increasingly difficult circumstances.
Additional details on the statewide list of OFM state agency reduction scenarios available Monday, June 8 at https://ofm.wa.gov/budget/state-budgets.
Thank you for your work to empower people to live the lives they want to lead.
|
