Dear Friends and Colleagues:
One of our most significant initiatives for 2012 is the 1115 People First Waiver.
Since last April, when the waiver process first began with a series of public events across the state, we have focused our attention on working with people throughout the system on the details and technical changes necessary to strengthen our system. But I know how easy it can be to get overwhelmed—even lost—in the many details, and believe it’s important to be honest about why the waiver is so critical.
Our system is at a financial breaking point. Thanks to the incredible advocacy of individuals and families, since the 1970s New York has become the federal government’s most funded service system, by far, in the country. However, that funding is not continuing to grow at the rate that our system is, making it difficult for us to meet the increased demand for supports and services.
To protect services, we have two realistic options. We can 1) make difficult cuts that reduce services; or 2) identify a better way of delivering care by personalizing services. Individualized care that helps us deliver better outcomes for the people we serve is the right choice.
New York’s current system was put into place to further the goals of deinstitutionalizing the state’s developmental center populations. It was a means of stimulating community-based residences and programs. To that end, the system was successful because the service capabilities of our nonprofit network have grown dramatically.
But there are flaws. As we know, in some cases, people who need different service arrangements are locked into an inflexible service design that consumes more resources than is necessary and does not provide the needed individualized supports. This is an extraordinarily costly process for a system that does not provide the flexibility people deserve to access the services they need.
The goals today are different than they were 30 years ago. The 1115 waiver will raise the bar on the quality of personalized care. For instance, one of the program goals or “outcomes” that we will be looking at is employment opportunities for care. For instance, one of the program goals or “outcomes” that we will be looking at is employment opportunities for type of employment. That number can and should be much higher. The waiver will produce incentives to strengthen and expand programs and services, like meaningful employment.
I want to thank the thousands of people who were involved in the waiver in so many ways throughout 2011, and hope you expand programs and services, like meaningful employment. with the changes that will be taking place, and why they are necessary to protect services moving forward.
Sincerely,
Commissioner Burke
P.S. We are committed to keeping you as informed as possible about this and the many other initiatives underway. For regular updates, please visit OPWDD on Facebook. Additionally, we have developed a series of short videos in which I answer frequently asked questions about the waiver.
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