NEW JERSEY

New Jersey has been building on efforts initiated in the 1990s to increase community services for people with disabilities, particularly those with mental illness or developmental disabilities. One such effort, known as "Redirection II: A Statewide Mental Health Quality of Care Improvement Initiative," continues the work begun in the Redirection I project that ran from 1995 to 1998 to increase the range and scope of community mental health services. The project is administered by the state Division of Mental Health Services (DMHS), Department of Human Services (DHS). State officials believe that the Redirection programs maintain New Jersey's "long-adopted policy" of providing services in the least restrictive setting appropriate to an individual's needs, and thus "are consistent with the spirit and legal mandates" of the Olmstead decision.

Clinical assessments were conducted in 2000 of more than 1,500 adult patients residing in state psychiatric hospitals to determine which patients might be able to live in the community. One DMHS goal for Redirection II has been to find appropriate residential placements for a minimum of 388 psychiatric hospital patients assessed as eligible for discharge from the hospital setting. Redirection II also involves the construction of a smaller (about 400 beds) replacement hospital for the Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital. Other components of the plan include expansion and strengthening of community mental health services, such as Programs in Assertive Community Treatment, integrated case management, crisis/respite services, and supportive housing.

In a November 2002 report, DMHS said that, as a result of the state's efforts since 1990, state hospital care for people with mental illness had been reduced by 30 percent to an average daily population of 2,145 (from 3,069) with funding for community services increasing from $73.8 million to $202.4 million. State officials report that, despite a $6 billion deficit in the state's FY 2003 budget, DMHS was one of the few divisions to receive a budget increase to support the Redirection II project, among other initiatives.

Another New Jersey activity for people with disabilities has been a program called New and Expanded Options for New Jersey Consumers with Developmental Disabilities and Their Families, proposed by DHS in September 2002. The program's goal is to shift the state's focus from developing group homes for people with developmental disabilities expansion of in-home services.

The state has proposed to maximize Medicaid revenues to reinvest in expanded services by, among other things, claiming for more individuals under the state's Community Care Waiver program. New Jersey has not been requiring people to establish their Medicaid eligibility prior to receiving services. The state estimated that prior determination of Medicaid eligibility could yield an additional $10 million to reinvest in services for more people. DHS also has developed an enhanced waiver program to provide services to families living at home, including personal care, respite care and assistive devices. The state could receive a 50 percent federal match for the services, which previously had been provided at state expense only.

The 2003 Legislature mandated that individuals with developmental disabilities and their families participate in the design of, and have access to, needed community services, individualized supports and other forms of assistance in all facets of community life, through culturally competent advocacy, capacity-building and systemic-change activities conducted by the State Council on Developmental Disabilities (Assembly Bill 2729).