OSSA’s Vision for Oregon
Leadership Changes at OSSA: Sarah Noack
Our organization is welcoming new leadership for the first time in nearly five years. We’ll be posting a series of articles over the next couple of weeks to introduce our new officers. We invite you to follow along and get to know us a little bit better. Calling Sarah Noack “new” does not seem right. Truly, all of our new faces in leadership have been a part of important moments in Brokerage history from our inception. Sarah has always been ready for more–more responsibility, more progress, more challenge, more growth. She visualizes her goals with a clear and steady eye; the entirety of the Brokerage community has benefited from her vision. Sarah...
Read MoreLeadership Changes at OSSA: Jennifer Santiago
Our organization is welcoming new leadership for the first time in nearly five years. We’ll be posting a series of articles over the next couple of weeks to introduce our new officers. We invite you to follow along and get to know us a little bit better. In August, the Oregon Support Services Association elected Jennifer Santiago as our new President. Jennifer may be new to the position, but she is not new to the field, or to the Brokerage community. She has been bringing her thoughtful contributions based on lived experience, shrewd insight, and tireless dedication to her work for years. We are excited to have Jennifer step into this new leadership role, and look...
Read MoreLeadership Changes at OSSA: Larry Deal
Our organization is welcoming new leadership for the first time in nearly five years. We’ll be posting a series of articles over the next couple of weeks to introduce our new officers. We invite you to follow along and get to know us a little bit better. The association of the 14 Brokerages (Oregon Support Services Association) formed back in 2010, as a way to work together to achieve our common goals. Since 2015, Larry Deal has served OSSA as its President, offering wise counsel and thoughtful planning to the association as we have grown. Elected at the same time as Executive Director Katie Rose was hired, the two have worked closely together to negotiate the...
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 quickly. Any changes, including those discussed below, must be negotiated with our federal contacts at the Centers for Medicaid and...
Read MoreWhy Vision Matters
We have talked a lot about the series of policy changes back in late 2013 that resulted in the statewide Community First Choice K Plan, in consolidating services and payment into the eXPRS Plan of Care, and the rise of the Adult Needs Assessment as a primary point of departure for service planning and funding. Today, we believe that more change is necessary if Oregon is to regain a functional, sustainable structure for IDD services. In our last post, we talked about the series of changes that reshaped the landscape for intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) services in Oregon. From the summer of 2013 until the close of 2015, we were taking on new processes, new...
Read MoreNothing Endures But Change
We have talked a lot about the series of policy changes back in late 2013 that resulted in the statewide Community First Choice K Plan, in consolidating services and payment into the eXPRS Plan of Care, and the rise of the Adult Needs Assessment as a primary point of departure for service planning and funding. The entire system still struggles to find equilibrium in the wake of such wholesale change. Equity in service allocations, rates of pay, and time spent on face-to-face services vs. paperwork has been disrupted due to choices made during the implementation of these policies. Today, we believe that more change is necessary if Oregon is to regain a functional,...
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