Ed's Newsletter - THE STATE MAY SOON TAKE AWAY YOUR CASE MANAGER!
McMANUS CONSULTING
DISABILITY SERVICES
847.256.0456, mcmanus006@gmail.com, Facebook, LinkedIn
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?Ed’s Newsletter
No. 269 – Jan. 26, 2023
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?YOUR ISC MAY BE FORCED OUT OF BUSINESS! . . .
?If you are an individual living in a CILA or enrolled in the Home-Based program, you may soon be losing your case manager.?That’s because the Division of DD says it will again force Independent Service Coordination agencies (ISCs) to compete against one another to get their State contracts renewed.
That’s a terrible way to handle ISC contracts, and it pushed 3 excellent longtime agencies out of business 4 years ago.?WE MUST NOT LET THAT HAPPEN AGAIN!
For 30 years, Illinois had a perfectly good renewal system.?If the Division determined that an ISC was performing well, their contract would be renewed; if they were not performing well, they could be replaced.
But in 2018, the Rauner administration (remember them?) had the bright idea of instituting a competitive system known as a NOFO, which stands for Notice of Funding Opportunity.?Any organization could decide to apply to handle service coordination in 1 or more of the state’s 12 ISC regions.?If the Division gave their application a higher score than the incumbent agency, the incumbent was forced out.
Now the Pritzker administration is gearing up to do it again.?
The contracts held by all the current ISCs expire in July of next year.?Later this year, the Division says it intends to issue a NOFO, inviting organizations to submit applications.
Many, many individuals throughout the state have been assisted by the same case manager for many years, and they have established a close working relationship.?All of a sudden, that case manager’s agency could lose its contract.?A new agency would take over, and a new case manager would be assigned to each individual—someone who had no knowledge of their needs and backgrounds.
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FEDERAL STATUTE EXEMPTS ISCs FROM ‘NOFOs’ . . .
Competition may sound like a good thing for some kinds of contracts, but needlessly messing with the working relationship between a case manager and a vulnerable person with intellectual or developmental disabilities is not a good thing at all.
Some facts you need to know:
--Federal statute actually exempts the ISCs, as entities funded by Medicaid, from the competitive process, and the Division has acknowledged that—that they are not required to conduct a NOFO--but they still want to do it, voluntarily.
--Many State programs do not use NOFO.?One example is the contract for the Service Support Team (SST) program, held by Trinity and Hope for 13 years with multiple renewals.?Another is DHS’s contract with the Centers for Independent Living program.
--The Office of Auditor General uncovered massive flaws in the previous NOFO—a grand total of 274 irregularities in the Division’s scoring of applications!?Do we really want to go through that again?
--The I/DD community voiced huge opposition in 2018 to conducting the last NOFO.?65 organizations signed a statement highly critical of it—13 ISCs, 46 providers and all 6 statewide provider associations—declaring it “qualitatively deficient” and warning that it would “fragment the system that could cause individuals and families to suffer.”?But the Division went forward.
WE NEED HELP!?Please contact Gov. Pritzker at:
and urge him to stop the ISC ‘NOFO’.
And contact your state senator and state representative. Go to:
and click on “Find my elected officials”.
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THE ARC URGES GOVERNOR TO ASSURE HEALTH, SAFETY OF CHOATE RESIDENTS . . .
?Amie Lulinski, Executive Director of The Arc, has called on Gov. Pritzker to take immediate action to assure the health and safety of the residents of Choate Developmental Center.
“For over a year now, we have continued to read reports of unacceptable experiences regarding several employees and residents at Choate,” Lulinski said in a statement.?“Another story came out about Choate residents being arrested for acting in a manner consistent with their diagnoses and/or histories of trauma.?Just days earlier, another similar story hit the headlines – this time from a school for children with disabilities in Jacksonville (which uses police to handle discipline). . . .
?“When will the rights violations of residents who live in Illinois facilities be addressed??The Arc of Illinois implores Gov. Pritzker and his administration to take immediate and meaningful action to assure the health and safety of the 232 Choate residents as well as secure necessary community-based funding to support the at least 31 individuals living at Choate who have indicated a desire to transition into the community. . . .
“We need to make sure we’re doing a better job on behalf of people with I/DD.?If we are wanting to move away from our over-reliance on these large congregate settings, we’re going to have to put some serious thought and action and dollars into the I/DD service delivery system to increase that system capacity to be able to receive people who are wanting to move out of SODCs.”
DECEMBER-JANUARY HEADLINES . . ....?????????????????????????????????????????????????????
DEC. 20:?CHOATE WORKER ACCUSED OF VIOLATING PROBATION
?DEC. 23:?NEARLY 2 DOZEN CHOATE RESIDENTS ARRESTED IN 7 YEARS FOR HITTING STAFF
?JAN. 3:?A LOOK BACK AT 2022, AND A LOOK AHEAD
?JAN. 12:?LEGISLATURE APPROPRIATES $12.5 MILLION TO DDD
?JAN. 20:?OIG SEEKS CRACKDOWN ON CHOATE WORKERS WHO OBSTRUCT INVESTIGATIONS
?ICYMI, these stories can be accessed through the McManus Consulting page on Facebook or the Ed McManus page on Linked In.
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PEOPLE . . .
?RYAN CROKE, DHS’s chief of staff for the past 4 years, has been named senior advisor for special projects in the Governor’s Office.?He has done a great job as top aide to Secy. Grace Hou.?Congratulations, Ryan!?Replacing Ryan will be AMANDA ELLIOTT, Executive Director of Legislative Affairs at the State Board of Education.
领英推荐
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SAMANTHA HANDLEY, CEO of Trilogy Behavioral Health Services, has been hired as CEO at Anixter Center.?She replaces REBECCA CLARK, who has gone to work for Easterseals of Chicagoland and Greater Rockford as senior director of strategic initiatives.
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JACLYN ROVNER, director of clinical services at Search Inc., has been hired part-time as a counselor at Collaborative Counseling Group of Illinois.
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TERESA GARATE, senior vice president for Strategic Partnerships & Engagement at Gateway Foundation, has been hired as?Executive Vice President of Rogers Behavioral Health.
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CHRISSY DALE is the new Chief Executive Officer at the Institute for Therapy through the Arts.?She formerly was with Fusion Academy and Center for Independent Futures.
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JOAN SNYDER-BUDZ, former associate director at Trinity Services, is now regional director of programs and operations for Ronald McDonald House Charities.
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KIM FISHER, a special education professor at IL State U., has been selected by the American Assn. on I/DD for its annual education award.?Kim recently completed a study of the use of technology by The Arc’s Going Home Coalition.
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THANE DYKSTRA, CEO of Trinity Services, has joined the board of the Council on Quality & Leadership.
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IN OUR INBOX . . .
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FROM DUSTY BREWNER-MANSFIELD, QIDP, Southern IL Case Coordination Services, on the State’s use of a competitive NOFO system for selection of ISCs:?“As an ISC, this can be so detrimental to those we serve.?It takes time to build trust and a good working relationship not only with our clients but also provider agencies.?I have been with many of my clients for 30 years. Please, Gov. Pritzker, no more NOFO!”
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FROM BARRY SMOOT, former chief of security at Choate: “Nothing has improved to increase safety at our SODCs.?Those in a position to improve safety are on notice in the event that a serious abusive or neglectful event occurs at any state DD facility.”
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FROM JILL GOLDSTEIN, Highland Park parent:?“Thank you, Ed, for not forgetting the residents of Choate.?When the public was informed of the horror that happened at Choate in a Tribune article, they assumed those responsible for widespread abuse of intellectually disabled adults would be punished.?The truth is that the system makes it easy to repeatedly abuse the I/DD people, who cannot speak up for themselves.?Not only did many of those who committed cruelty against disabled adults not receive punishment, but they got to keep their jobs to repeat offend.?The lack of outrage floors me.”
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FROM CATHY BEDARD, Berwyn, founder of Mothers on a Mission:?“As a parent of 3 adult individuals who have intellectual disabilities, I just get sick to my stomach with each update about Choate.?I cannot believe in 2023 Illinois is still this backward!”
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FROM MARY ANN DYRDA, Glen Ellyn parent:?“Your latest article on Choate is stunning: 24 people have been arrested in connection with the abuse, and DHS doesn't think there's a problem that needs a solution??Obviously, the labor pool is limited when you have to hire these types of people and continue to employ them.”
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From Mary Ann Dyrda on the article “Choate residents arrested for hitting staff”:?“I thought it was a typo in your subject line.?I thought you meant to type workers, not residents.?How can this be??What the heck is going on???So if a person with a developmental disability or mental illness hits staff, they could be charged with a felony??There's a reason these people are in a ‘protective’ (and I use that term loosely) facility.?The world is upside down.?Choate needs to be closed and demolished.”
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From Mary Ann Dyrda on the governor’s spokesperson saying he “looks forward to working collaboratively with lawmakers and the OIG on any legislative solutions” regarding Choate:?“Oh please, Governor, stop talking and take action.”
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FROM NORA HANDLER, sibling advocate and Arc board member:?“I am very disappointed by the governor’s response.”
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FROM ROD PATTERSON, former CEO, Institute on Public Policy for People with Disabilities:?“Is there no end to the measures DHS takes to cover up the abuse and lack of appropriate, therapeutic treatment for people ‘incarcerated’ at Choate and the other SODCs???I am pretty positive that the department would keep track of the number of people receiving community services that have been charged with crimes.?One wonders about the mindset of the elected officials down by Anna that would focus on punishment for people with disabilities and leniency for staff.??Of course, perhaps the elephant in the room is the history of patronage down there.?I am so disgusted!”
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FROM SHANNON LESLIE, Naperville:?“This is beyond awful!?I turn away in massive grief when reading about the abuse at Choate.”
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McManus Consulting was founded in 2011 by Ed McManus, who was an administrator with the IL Div. of Developmental Disabilities for 18 years, and previously worked as a Chicago Tribune reporter/editor and an assistant state’s attorney.?
The publication of Ed's Newsletter is made possible by the support of the following affiliates: A New Age Human Services, A+ Autism Solutions, Abequa Home Care, Access Living, Active Visions, Ada S. McKinley, Arts of Life, Aspire, At Home Mission, Autism Care Therapy, Avenues to Independence, CCAR Industries, Center for Enriched Living, Center for Independent Futures, Champaign County DD Board, Clearbrook, Community Link, Douglas Center, Encompass/Jewish United Fund, Friendship House, Garden Center, Gateway Services, Gateway to Learning, Glenkirk, Good Shepherd Manor, Helping Hand, Individual Advocacy Group, KCCDD/Knox County, Land of Lincoln Goodwill Industries, Lambs Farm, LARC/Lansing, Leeda, Little City, McHenry County MH Board, Malcolm Eaton Enterprises, Misericordia, Mulford Homes/Diane Home Care, Oak-Leyden Developmental Services, Ohana Community Services, Opportunity Knocks, Orchard Village, Pioneer Center, Progressive Careers & Housing, Ray Grahan Assn., Rimland, Riverside, Royal Living Center, St. Coletta WI, Sheltered Village, Trinity, UCP Seguin, Warren Achievement, The Workshop/Galena.?
Independent Service Coordinators: Central IL Service Access, Community Alternatives Unlimited, Southern IL Case Coordination Services.?
Disability-related law firms: Cahill & Associates, Chamberlin Riechert Law Group, Clancy & Associates, Matt Cohen & Associates, Monahan Law Group, Rubin Law.?
McManus Consulting provides consultation to these organization, and we consult pro bono with families by phone.?Our newsletter circulation is 2,600.