WASHINGTON
In 2002 and 2003, Washington was in the last stages of its five-year plan for restructuring and expanding community options for people with developmental disabilities. The plan included key recommendations on incorporating self-directed services in future programs. On the administrative front, the state revamped its aging and developmental disabilities agencies into a merged Aging and Disabilities Services Administration.
Developmental Disabilities
In April 2001, the parties in the lawsuit The Arc of Washington State vs. Lyle Quasim reached a settlement agreement, which depended on the Washington Legislature authorizing an additional $14 million to expand services for people with developmental disabilities. The agreement also stipulated that the Legislature would provide $24 million each year thereafter. The Legislature approved the first phase of the agreement in 2002. However, the District Court rejected the agreement in December 2002. Advocacy organizations had argued that the agreement provided insufficient assurances that the individuals they represented would receive the services they required. Trial is scheduled for October 2003.*
Phase three of the long-range plan for people with developmental disabilities (Developmental Disabilities Strategies for the Future) was released on December 1, 2002. A stakeholder work group was appointed in 1997 to develop plans over a five-year period for the future needs of people with developmental disabilities. Phase one of the plan, released in December 1998, identified unmet needs in five areas: services, case management, quality and accountability, provider stabilization, and administrative infrastructure. The phase two report, issued in December 2000, made recommendations on how to restructure the system to implement choice and self-determination through an individual and family-centered approach.
The phase three report makes recommendations on implementation of self-directed services and on the respective roles of the residential habilitation centers (RHCs)-five centers that are certified either as ICF/MRs or nursing homes-and community support services. Funding for a pilot program for self-directed services in FY 2000 and FY 2001 was not provided. However, the Department of Developmental Disabilities tested some elements of self-determination with people who are moving out of institutions. The Legislature provided funds to move 80 people from RHCs to the community in the 2001-03 biennium. As of November 2002, 54 people had indicated that they wanted to move, and 31 had actually moved as September 2002.
State Administrative Agencies
In December 2002, the secretary of the Department of Social and Health Services created the Aging and Disabilities Services Administration by merging the Aging and Adult Services Administration (AASA) and Division of Developmental Disabilities. AASA had a FY 2001-03 budget of $2 billion, of which about $982 million went to nursing homes for the care of about 13,000 residents and $790 million went to home and community services for about 24,000 clients in FY 2002. (Another 8,000 people resided in community residential settings in FY 2002, which includes adult family homes, adult residential care and assisted living facilities.)
The Division of Developmental Disabilities had a FY 2001-03 budget of about $1.2 billion for services for 33,000 people. Of the total, about $303 million was for the residential habilitation centers. Another $386 million was for supported living (services people receive in their own homes) or group home programs.
* Human Services Research Institute, February 2003, http://www.hsri.org/docs/litigation021403.pdf
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