Serving People with Developmental Disabilities
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The Athens County Board of Developmental Disabilities announced Wednesday that over the next three years services provided by ATCO, Inc. will be transitioned to private providers, and ATCO itself will be shuttered due to a federally mandated order from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Also impacted will be the popular Passion Works studio in uptown Athens, which produces the well-known “passion flower” of Athens. ACBDD Supt. Kevin Davis said in an interview Tuesday that the board is working with the Athens mayor’s office, Ohio University and private providers to ensure that Passion Works will continue to exist through and beyond this transition. Beacon School will not be affected, he said. “We understand how difficult this transition will be for all involved,” Davis said. “We are committed to ensuring quality services for individuals with developmental or intellectual disabilities during and after this transition.” Davis said that a CMS rule change in 2014 calls for “conflict-free case management,” and that a board – in this case the ACBDD – that receives Medicaid funding cannot monitor services that it also provides – in this case through ATCO, Inc. (Advocacy, Training, Career, Opportunities). ATCO, on Campbell Street in Athens, is a department of the ACBDD and has been a day service provider for people with developmental disabilities since 1969, according to its website. Services include community inclusion and recreational activities, life-skills training and nursing services. Davis said that 50 people are currently on the ATCO roster with an average daily attendance in the mid- to low-30s. With six or seven private providers of day and recreational services to individuals with disabilities in Athens County, Davis said, the ACBDD will work to transfer services to those providers in the coming years. The CMS mandate set a deadline in Ohio for 2024 for all such services to be transitioned to private providers, and Davis said this week that the ACBDD board decided to begin a three-year transition now to leave plenty of time on the back end for everything to be completed with time to spare. All 17 employees of ATCO will be able to keep their jobs for the next three years during that transitional phrase, Davis said, though some may choose to retire or leave early. The ACBDD board also will hire a transition manager from the group of ATCO employees to help coordinate the moving of services for individuals and their families to the private providers and ensure the transition goes smoothly. Further, the board is creating a Transition Planning Committee to help facilitate the process, Davis said. This committee will be composed of employees, stakeholders and others who express interest in taking part, he said. The committee will be tasked with helping to make sureindividuals served are transitioned successfully, and with developing a plan for the ATCO building on Campbell Street, as well as coordinating the future of Passion Works. The ATCO building, Davis said, is currently titled in the name of the Athens County Commissioners and is owned by Athens County. The Passion Works space on East State Street, he said, is rented by the ACBDD. ATCO-Beacon Education Association leadership released a statement regarding the news Wednesday morning. “While disheartened by this news, our members are committed to transitioning our clients to other adult service providers and opportunities,” ABEA President Cressie Chaney and ATCO building representative Jack Wilson said in the joint statement. “Although this will be a difficult three-year process for everyone involved, with the support of our stakeholders and community we are committed to a successful transition for all parties involved,” they wrote. “We appreciate Supt. Davis’ commitment to ensuring the transition is carried out in a collaborative manner with the least amount of harm to those we serve and the employees affected.” Davis repeatedly emphasized that he and the ACBDD Board place great importance on transparency, which is why they are making this three-year transition public now, encouraging full input from the community and help in meeting the federally mandated standards. “We understand that there will be many questions and concerns that need to be addressed,” he said. In order to do that, Davis said, the ACBDD will host three agency-wide informational and planning meetings (one per month over the next three months) for all concerned stakeholders, families, community members and individuals to come together to discuss the next steps. The first of these meetings, he said, will be held Tuesday, March 1, at 6 p.m. in the ATCO cafeteria. Counties throughout Ohio are now dealing with this rule change, with 26 of 88 counties already privatized, 25 in the process of privatizing including Athens County, 26 in discussion on the matter, nine with county board-run services that are not yet in discussion, and two that have not responded to a survey from the statewide Department of Disabilities. http://www.athensnews.com/news/local/board-atco-inc-s-days-are-numbered/article_84bb5fc2-d018-11e5-b606-83887c7483b6.html This article has been reproduced for educational purposes only and appeared in The Athens News. The original story can be found at: http://www.athensnews.com/news/local/board-atco-inc-s-days-are-numbered/article_84bb5fc2-d018-11e5-b606-83887c7483b6.html Send this page to a friend |