Home Based Services Extended for the Disabled

On September 24, 2009, the New York State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (NYS OMRDD) received approval from the Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to continue to operate the Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) Waiver for another five-year renewal period, running from October 1, 2009 through September 30, 2014. In addition to continuing to operate existing programs, OMRDD is planning to increase the types and amounts of services that can take place in the homes of individuals rather than in residential facilities.  This effort will help to make it possible for individuals with disabilities to remain in their own homes while still receiving the benefit of some services that, to this point, had only been available to individuals living in OMRDD certified residential settings.  As always, the initiatives are designed to foster an individual’s independence and to help them become more active and participatory members of their communities. Below is a partial list of the services. 

Intensive Behavioral Services
For those individuals with severe behavioral issues this service will allow them and their families to access intervention services that were difficult for families to obtain in the past.  This service will allow for professionals in this area to come to the home of these individuals and work with them and family members with strategies that will help to reduce the demonstrated behavior.  

Community Habilitation
This service is intended to be a more efficient mechanism for the delivery of habilitative services in the community (non-certified settings). Community Habilitation will facilitate community inclusion, integration, and relationship building. It is designed to offer a self-direction option to provide individuals with enhanced opportunities to choose and manage their own staff to the extent possible

Pathway to Employment
Will provide time limited supports for participants to explore work that might lead to paid competitive employment and/or self-employment/microenterprise.

Community Transition Services
This service is intended to support an individual transitioning from a provider-operated living arrangement to a living arrangement in a private residence where the individual is directly responsible for his/her own living expenses.  This includes shared living arrangements where a disabled individual may chose to live with a non-disabled person who may or may not be a member of his or her immediate family.

Self-Directed Service Options
OMRDD will enhance self-direction opportunities offered under the waiver by expanding the use of the co-management model in which individuals have more opportunities to choose and manage the staff that supports them through a formal agreement between the provider and the individual.


To read the full press release on the OMRDD site click here.