"Building Partnerships, Supporting Choices"

That's the tag line on DDS letterhead - has that filtered down to the regional centers?

Supporting choices?

Like for the woman recently moved from her home of 15 years with 2 hours notice?

Building partnerships?

Your partner is interesting.... you take all of the financial risk and your partner is in complete control.

What do you think?

Regional Center Update

Here's the uniform closure schedule. I'd love to hear from those of you who will have to staff at times you haven't had to in the past. I'm trying to figure out the real impact of the budget - which is significantly more than the 3% "discount" for residential.

For me, the issue that keeps getting swept under the rug is that there is only one place in the developmental services system that didn't take a cut (4 budget areas - DDS headquarters, State Developmental Centers, Regional Center Operations, and Purchase services). I'll give you a hint - DDS HQ and State DCs are staffed by state employees who have to take furlough days. So what's wrong with this picture? The "stakeholder" meetings where information was gathered about how to best approach budget cuts didn't seem to take the information from all of the "stakeholders." The question I kept posing to legislators was to consider the importance of specific services to the people with developmental disabilities - Choice: roof over head or case manager? Choice: Early intervention services or 21 accounting departments? I may have oversimplified the choices here, but I think the message is clear.

Please let me know what your thoughts are. You can send messages on this blog and no one has to know who you are - for those who fear retaliation should you have an opinion that is counter to those who sign the payment authorization forms and make referrals.

Uniform closure schedule:

1. January 1

2. The third Monday in January

3. The third Monday in February

4. March 31

5. The last Monday in May

6. July 4

7. The first Monday in September

8. November 11

9. Thanksgiving Day

10. The day after Thanksgiving Day

11. December 24

12. December 25

13. December 26 (for 2009 this Holiday is observed on Monday, December 28, 2009)

14. For 2010 ONLY, April 5, 2010

15. Effective 2010 and on, the second Monday in October (due to the 60 day notice requirement this is NOT a FY 2009-10 Holiday)

Regional Center Update

I've taken about 8 calls in the last month that give me a sense that regional centers have increased their expectations of providers. Long term clients are being moved with little or no notice, providers are being required to do renovations to their property, and there has been a lot of pressure to meet the training requirements (not that I'm complaining about that, of course).

I am a major supporter, as those who know me will attest, of great programs that are respectful of clients, but it seems that increasing expectations right now is just bad timing. All of you have given the regional center services at a 3% "discount" and it's still unclear what the impact of the day program universal closure days will be. It seems like the regional centers might be looking at how to better value the services provided in residential care.

And then there's training...... Our company is a training company, so you won't hear me telling people not to get training. We've tried to keep our catalog reasonably priced. We've increased our online offerings, to save you travel costs and time. And yet, I hear about regional centers that don't accept online training to meet the Title 17 requirements, and those that are requiring people to get training to meet plans of correction. My favorite was a request to train people on how to cook chicken. As my teenage daughter might say, "whatever...."

And to that training requirement..... Third Thursday at Sam's Cafe at New Horizons in North Hills. Reasonably priced at $20 for 3 CEUs; 4th staff person may attend at no cost. Call us or check website www.CommunityTrainingOnline.com for more information.

Fee Increase from Community Care Licensing

Today I sent an email newsletter with the good news and the bad news from Community Care Licensing. Annual fees are increasing by almost 10%. Since most of our client facilities are experiencing, in some cases, unprecedented open beds, this is really bad news. For those funded by regional centers, this is a major slap in the face. First a 3% "discount" on your billing; new days for day program closure where you'll staff when you haven't in the past; now an increase in rates.

Here's the full fee schedule, effective 7/28/09:

http://ccld.ca.gov/res/pdf/Fees.pdf

It's a good thing that most of you love the work you do and that the residents/clients/consumers come first for you. It's hard to imagine that those making these decisions have considered the impact on the people you serve. Maybe I've been around this continuous state budget crisis too long.

What do you think?