OACB staff members are finalizing the association’s official public comment submission this week for submission to the state by next Friday, January 23.
The response will include many of the strong opinions voiced by members throughout the transition plan process, including the following basic themes:
- The health and safety of people with developmental disabilities and their families are OACB’s first and foremost concern. Creating mismanaged or otherwise needless upheaval in the lives of people served by county boards is an unacceptable outcome of any transition plan.
- The five-year transition period originally proposed by CMS (with one year already elapsed) is too short and should be extended to 10 years in accordance with the state’s current proposal. Any time period less than this will not allow for an adequate transition and will cause irrevocable damage to the ability of Ohio’s DD service delivery system to support people with developmental disabilities.
- The process for collecting public feedback was confusing, disjointed, and a source of great frustration for many people served, their families, and professionals within Ohio’s DD system.
- The current plan lacks specificity on the implementation of each section and therefore creates an incomplete picture for how services will be managed in the future. OACB supports many aspects of the transition plan in concept. With so few details, however, many questions are left unanswered and OACB cannot fully judge the document on its merits. Many sections are contingent on progress in areas of the plan that do not currently exist, such as funding system redesign and a resolution of the conflict-free case management issue. OACB must be a partner in all discussions as these details are finalized during the stakeholder input process.
Any last-minute member feedback will be incorporated into the draft by Friday January 16. The OACB Board of Trustees will review the document on Monday, January 19 for submission to the State of Ohio by the January 23 deadline.
For questions or more information about OACB’s public comment, please contact Joe Russell (jrussell@oacbdd.org) at 614-431-0616 ext. 7986.
