Plans to fine-tune a major state Developmental Disabilities program will continue, but changes will occur gradually.
The Home- and Community-Based Waivers program provides services from intensive supervision to help with a number of tasks.
But nearly 600 people are on the waiting list for services, and the Department of Health has been ordered to reduce the waiting list, without spending more money.
Department Director Tom Forslund says they originally wanted to cap services for what people actually need, but that plan has been delayed. But he says they will likely re-visit a version of their original idea.
“Evaluate each of the 24 hundred plus people to determine their appropriate level of needs. Then if the budget needs to be reduced, we will step it down over time.”
Forslund says some people have waited for more than seven years for services.
