Disability Thrive Initiative

WASHINGTON—Paying doctors, hospitals and other providers for improved care rather than treatment volume will benefit patients and lower U.S. health-care spending, President Barack Obama said Wednesday.

As the Affordable Care Act reaches milestones in expanding coverage—nearly 11.7 million people had signed up through late February—the Obama administration is turning its focus to . . .

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Two state bills target the Fairview Developmental Center for closure so that funding can be diverted to other community-based disability program. The bills’ authors contend that the state-owned center in Costa Mesa and another in Northern California — which both provide 24-hour care to people with severe disabilities — have become too costly to run considering how few patients they serve. Sen. Jeff Stone (R-Murrieta) said California taxpayers pay about $500,000 a year toward each patient’s care at Fairview and the Sonoma Developmental Center. Closing them and shifting funds to the state’s host of regional centers would cost much less, about $17,000 per person, he said.

“By shutting down these large and outdated state institutions and shifting the money to regional centers, those in need of state services will receive better care and more support,” Stone said a statement.

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The Lanterman Coalition’s campaign to save our community services is off to an exciting start. Thanks to the coordinated advocacy of literally thousands of stakeholders all over California and some of in the Capitol, we have most legislators’ attention now. And 35 senators and assemblymembers have agreed to sign the letter supporting a 10% emergency funding increase to stop the service system from collapsing.

Now we’re at the next stage – asking everyone to pick up the phone and make two calls, one to your local state senator and one to your assembly member, to ask them to sign the letter. It’s easy! Just click here and you can forward the letter to our local legislators. 

It’s not Jennifer Kent’s fault, but that didn’t stop the seething criticism of legislators on Tuesday at a joint legislative oversight hearing in the Capitol Building.

Kent, appointed seven weeks ago as the new director of the Department of Health Care Services that oversees the Medi-Cal program, testified at Tuesday’s oversight hearing of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee and the Senate and Assembly health committees.

At issue was a December 2014 state auditor’s report that showed more than half the state’s children in Denti-Cal were not getting regular dental care and that 32 of California’s 58 counties may have a dental access problem because of a dearth of providers.

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DEVELOPMENTAL SERVICES UPDATE: DEPARTMENT RELEASES NEW 2015 FACT BOOK & LANTERMAN ACT SACRAMENTO, CA [CDCAN LAST UPDATED 01/27/2015 –  6:51 AM] – The Department of Developmental Services (DDS), the state agency that oversees the state owned and operated facilities called “developmental centers” and the 21 non-profit regional centers who assess and determine eligibility and coordinate services for over 270,000 children and adults with developmental disabilities – including infants and toddlers in California’s early intervention program called “Early Start” – released this week the 12^th edition of its “Fact Book” that compiles data, population of the people the agency serves.     Also released this week by the department is the latest edition, including revisions resulting from recent changes in State law, of California’s landmark “Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act”, known as the “Lanterman Act”.      FACT BOOK – To view or download the Fact Book, as a PDF Document Copy (44 pages) from the department’s webpage:     http://www.dds.ca.gov/factsStats/docs/factBook_12th.pdf     LANTERMAN ACT – To view or download the Lanterman Act as a PDF Document Copy (388 pages) from the department’s webpage:     http://www.dds.ca.gov/Statutes/docs/LantermanAct_2015.pdf     SUPPLEMENTAL CODES (TO LANTERMAN ACT) – To view or download as a PDF Document Copy (62 pages) from the department’s webpage:     http://www.dds.ca.gov/Statutes/docs/LantermanAct_Supplemental2015.pdf

Last week, California officials announced  the creation of the Bureau of Children’s Justice, a new initiative that aims to protect and improve the health of children in the state, the Los Angeles Times‘ “L.A. Now” reports.The bureau, created by state Attorney General Kamala Harris (D), will seek to combat:

• Childhood trauma;
• Education discrimination;
• Human trafficking; and
• Student truancy.

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With over 6 hours of testimony at the Senate Subcommittee on Health and Human Services,  on March 12th representatives from the Lanterman 10 Coalition described California’s failure to ‘fulfill the  promise’ of the state’s developmental services system. A 10% system-wide increase is needed meet federal caseload ratios and service provider rate increases to prevent collapse of this important system.

See the Agenda items covered here.

Click here to see the full Senate hearing.

Click here to see the full Assembly hearing from March 4rth.

Click here to learn more and support the Lanterman 10% Coalition