RE: Comments on NOIRA to Publish an Omnibus Waiver Regulation

 

 

On behalf of The Arc of Northern Virginia, thank you for the opportunity to comment on the NOIRA regarding the Department’s intent to consolidate all seven home and community-based services (HCBS) waivers into one set of regulations (Omnibus Waiver Regulation). 

 

As an organization dedicated to providing advocacy, support and service to thousands of Virginians with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families, The Arc of Northern Virginia is intimately familiar with the need for Virginia to facilitate access to home and community-based services. However, the problems of lack of access and confusion about services are best addressed by restructuring the system and by the provision of adequate funding, not by combining current waiver regulations.

 

The Arc of Northern Virginia is opposed to combining the Mental Retardation (MR) and Day Support (DS) waivers into an Omnibus regulation package for administrative streamlining. The case management system, the assessments, the preauthorization process and authority, the criteria and management of the waiting list and the appeal process as well as the special DMHMRSAS role and responsibilities are all unique to these two waivers. In short, people with intellectual disabilities, their families and their provider network will gain nothing from being squeezed into an Omnibus HCBS waiver regulation.

 

The Individual & Family Developmental Disabilities Support (IFDDS) waiver should also not be combined in an Omnibus package until such time as the Commonwealth determines a lead agency for serving people with autism and developmental disabilities other than intellectual disabilities. Furthermore, the IFDDS, MR, DS waivers are targeted at preventing use of higher cost ICF-MRs and have historically used a supports model that is different in many aspects from the medical care model used in waivers targeted at preventing use of nursing homes.