On June 23, the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities (DODD) announced that the Center for Medicaid Services (CMS) had accepted the state’s plan of compliance regarding Conflict Free Case Management. This gives County Boards 10 years – until 2024 – to come into compliance. (Updated July 2015)

• New CMS regulations effective March 2014 prohibited providers of Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) from also providing case management services, locally we refer to these essential case management services as Services and Supports Administration, or SSA.
• HCBS included supported employment, adult day services, vocational habilitation, non-medical transportation, and residential services.
• Summit DD currently provides direct services to 1,261 individuals, specifically:
  • 490 individuals receive adult day support
  • 200 individuals receive supported employment services
  • 571 individuals receive transportation services directly from the board.
• Summit DD service coordinators provide case management services to approximately 3,000 adults and children.

How and When the Changes Will Effect Individuals Served by Summit DD

“Summit DD is not going away.  Our role as a direct service provider may be changing, but our support to families and individuals will continue at an even greater level in the future.”

– Superintendent John Trunk’s at May 2015 community meetings

• Summit DD will not accept new enrollees for adult day support, vocational habilitation, supported employment and non-medical transportation unless there is no other willing and qualified provider in the geographic region to do so.
• A qualified provider means certified and evidence must be shown that no other certified providers were willing to serve an individual.
• Summit DD is required to submit a plan by September 1st that shows annual benchmarks for the recruitment of qualified providers and for the reduction of individuals utilizing Summit DD as a provider of HCBS. We will share those benchmarks during the transition process.
• By 2020, no more than 30% of individuals who are receiving case management from Summit DD may be receiving HCBS from the Board. By 2024 Summit DD must be in total compliance.
• Summit DD will no longer be a service provider, however our role is vital in planning services, monitoring outcomes, developing provider capacity for integrated services and supporting teams in navigating the community options. We continue to provide the match for Waiver services and early intervention support for nearly 800 families a year.

• Summit DD continues to work with current providers and recruit additional provides to ensure capacity for adult day support, supported employment and non-medical transportation. Summit DD may also assume increase monitoring and oversight responsibilities of providers when the County Board is no longer a provider.
• Service and Support Administrators (SSA) will begin conversations with you if you currently receive adult day, vocational habilitation, supported employment or non-medical transportation from the County Board. Summit DD’s goal is to ensure a smooth transition to a qualified provider of your choice when you are ready to take that step while meeting annual benchmarks.  The Board also understands that we will need to review our facilities and offerings during this transition.
• It is also expected that CMS will respond to DODD’s transition plan to more inclusive services later this summer. The transition plan to more integrated settings will impact both the County Board as a provider through 2024 as well as all other providers.

How Summit DD will communicate these changes to the community

• Community Meetings in September 2015
• Blog posts
• Direct mail
• Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterst, Linkedin)
• Information line at 1-33-634-TALK (8255)
• informDD newsletter
• Transparency and constant communication with the media

Read more about Summit DD’s plans for the evolution of the DD System.

Questions? Check out the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about the the CMS transitions. Or contact our information hotline at (330) 634-TALK (8255) or visit SummitDD.org to Contact Us.

Download a copy of the At-a-glance Fact Sheet.