Eligibility screening weighed for developmentally disabled

CONWAY -- State officials are considering using independent assessments to determine Arkansans' eligibility for placement in state-run facilities for the developmentally disabled, the director of the state Department of Human Services' Developmental Disabilities Services Division told a panel of lawmakers Tuesday.

Director Melissa Stone told the human-development center subcommittee of the Health Reform Legislative Task Force that such assessments would "ensure those with the highest need are the only ones entering the door" at the state's human-development centers.

Currently, she said, people with developmental disabilities who meet a set of criteria have a choice of living in a human-development center or receiving home or community-based services.

But, she said, "sometimes parents just feel more comfortable" with a human-development center than with community-based services. About 3,000 people are on the waiting list for community-based services.

"If you need immediate help, you're coming to a center," Stone said during a subcommittee meeting at the Conway Human Development Center.

The center is one of five in the state that provide round-the-clock care to people with developmental disabilities.

The task force was formed last year to recommend changes to the private option, which provides coverage to low-income adults, and other parts of the state's Medicaid program.

A final report by the task force is due by the end of this year.

With 934 Arkansans living in the centers as of June 30, 2013, Arkansas ranked No. 9 among states in the number of residents who live in large, state-run facilities, according to a report to the subcommittee by The Stephen Group, a Manchester, N.H., consulting firm.

Among the 42 states that operated large facilities for the developmentally disabled, Arkansas' spending of $388 per facility resident per day was the fourth-lowest in the country, according to the report.

The report attributed that in part to the spending being spread over a larger facility population than most of other states.

Rep. Kim Hammer, R-Benton and a chairman of the subcommittee, asked the firm to gather more details about the cost of Arkansas' centers, their needs for capital improvements, the value of "excess property" that could be sold and a review of what facility services could be performed by private contractors.

Charles Jones of Cabot said the Conway center has helped improve the behavior and self-esteem of his 19-year-old son, who has autism and a seizure disorder.

Before the teen moved into the center, his younger sister had to leave the family's home and live with other relatives because her brother "was such a danger to himself and others," Jones said.

"This is the best place for him, I have no doubt," Jones said. "These human-development centers don't just save the clients; they save families."

Metro on 06/15/2016

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