Blog & News
Senate Bill 274 Opens Brokerage Services to People 14 and Up
With the end set for June 20, the 2019 Oregon Legislative Session is in its final month. Oregon Support Services Association has been actively engaged in advocacy since the session’s January 22 start. Legislators come to public service with a variety of backgrounds and interests, and the Brokerage association works hard to enrich their understanding of services for people with developmental disabilities. This session has been different for us–we brought forward a legislative concept that was introduced by chief sponsor Senator James...
read moreCheck-In: Oregon Needs Assessment
If you or someone you care about receives DD services in Oregon, chances are that you have or will receive an Oregon Needs Assessment (ONA) before the end of June 2019. And maybe that has left you wondering, what was that about, and will it affect my services? Hopefully you feel comfortable asking your Personal Agent any person-specific questions you might have, but let’s talk a little about the general ONA project, and OSSA’s advocacy on the subject. A Re-Cap of the Oregon Needs Assessment Project The Oregon Needs Assessment is...
read moreWant a Better Planning Experience? Share Your Thoughts!
Oregon services for people with Developmental Disabilities have changed a lot over the past several years. As is usually true, there have been some improvements, and some losses. The Office of Developmental Disabilities (ODDS), along with many stakeholders, is poised to begin work on improving the current service planning process, including ISPs, assessments, and the other important planning components. In order to make things better for you, we need to know more about your individual experiences. The Oregon Council on Developmental...
read moreEVV Is Coming to Oregon: Here Is What You Need to Know
Electronic Visit Verification is coming to Oregon, and it will change the way that 10,000 Personal Support Workers and as many Direct Support Professionals start and end their work shifts for attendant-care services in a person’s home. What Is EVV? The 21st Century CURES Act was adopted by the federal government in 2016 to reduce Medicaid fraud. Because this is a federal bill, every state is now working to meet the January 2019 deadline to implement Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) for in-home attendant care services. In order...
read moreReduction List: Case Management Matters
The second half of June has arrived, and with it, the legislative session’s crunch time. Budget negotiations turn to budget deals, and our elected officials make hard decisions. As you will recall, Oregon’s Joint Ways and Means Committee Co-Chairs released a Targeted Reduction List at the end of April, which outlined a more detailed proposal for reducing costs to the 2017-2019 budget. Our legislative leaders have been warning us for months now that, without new sources of revenue, there will be cuts. The Targeted Reduction List...
read moreReduction List: Proposed Eligibility Changes Would Put Oregonians At Risk
As we discussed earlier this week, Oregon’s Joint Ways and Means Committee Co-Chairs released a Targeted Reduction List at the end of April, which outlined a more detailed proposal for reducing costs to the 2017-2019 budget. Our legislative leaders have been warning us for months now that, without new sources of revenue, there will be cuts. The Targeted Reduction List proposes to change Oregon’s IDD Service Eligibility criteria in two significant ways. Please note that no substantial changes to eligibility can be undertaken...
read moreCo-Chairs Release a Targeted Reduction List–What’s On It?
Oregon’s economy is healthy and growing, but so are its costs. In fact, the costs of current services and budgeted obligations have outpaced the amount of money coming into the state to pay for them. Our legislative leaders have been warning us for months now that, without new sources of revenue, there will be cuts. Now, for the first time, we are getting a clearer picture of what those cuts might look like, as the Joint Ways and Means Committee Co-Chairs, Senator Richard Devlin (D-Tualatin) and Representative Nancy Nathanson (D-Eugene)...
read moreThe State Budget Process: This Year’s Recommendations From the Governor
You may have seen headlines this month about the release of Governor Brown’s Recommended State Budget. As discussed in yesterday’s post, the Oregon state budget takes several months and three major steps from start to finish. We begin with data, reports, and recommendations from each governmental agency as to how services are currently operating, and what it would take to continue them (ARB). Next, the Governor synthesizes the disparate agency requests into a single budget, recommending it to the legislature, and to all Oregonians...
read moreThe State Budget Process: What Do I Need To Know?
For the IDD system, the budgeting process is often a roller-coaster of emotion and advocacy. Service levels, program funding, and provider rates are all determined by the biennial state budget. On December 1st, Governor Kate Brown released her Governor’s Recommended Budget (GRB), which is a detailed budget plan for the 2017-2019 biennium. To get a handle on where the GRB falls in the full budget process, let’s take a closer look at it from start to finish. First stop: The Agency Request Budget (ARB) An Agency Request Budget is a...
read more5 Myths About Brokerages Services
Information can be hard to come by sometimes in the IDD service system. We’ve heard these five myths thrown around like facts over the years, and we’re here to set the record straight. 1. MYTH: Brokerage services are only for people who don’t need much help. FACT: Brokerages serve people with all levels of support needs, from those who are more independent to people who need frequent assistance. Support Services are meant to keep people out of Medicaid-funded residential placements and in their own or their family homes for...
read more