Dear OPRA Members,
I hope you are doing well.
I am writing to inform you of the preliminary settlement that was reached in the class action lawsuit, Ball v. DeWine (formerly Ball v. Kasich). The lawsuit, brought forth in
March of 2016 by Disability Rights Ohio (DRO), was filed against the State of Ohio, the Department of Developmental Disabilities (DODD), Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities (OOD) and the Ohio Association of County Boards (OACB) on behalve of people
with developmental disabilities and their families. The Honorable Judge Edmund A. Sargus Jr., of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio granted preliminary approval of the settlement.
On Friday October 18th, DRO released a press annnouncement indicating that per the settlement agreement, the state of Ohio must:
·
Expand options counseling and pre-admission counseling programs.
·
Maintain peer-to-peer and family-to-family programs and exploratory
community visits for people who have not yet made a decision regarding their service options.
·
Expand access to state-funded Individual Options waivers for people who choose a waiver.
·
Support and expand programs for integrated, affordable housing, and
integrated employment and day services.
·
Continue follow-along visits for people after they have left ICFs.
There are 3 PDFs attached. The first is from DRO highlighting the agreement. The second two describe next steps and details.
The only significant change noted from this settlement is the requirement that options counseling will include people living in 8-bed or larger ICFs. Prior to this agreement,
options counseling only applied to people living in ICFs containing 16 or more beds. The other points highlighted above are already a part of the expansion of options for people with developmental disabilities in Ohio.
At OPRA we support the person’s and his/her families’ right and ability to choose the best available situation to meet their needs. We accept that a person should be aware of
all options including ICFs and waiver settings. We believe the person and their family should receive counseling/support regarding all service options, not only when an ICF is involved. We will continue to work with DODD to ensure that people and their families
have information on all of their service options, in accordance with the Informed Choice Amendment that was passed in Ohio’s most recent budget.
On behalf of our members, we will continue to support and advocate for ICFs as an integral aspect of the spectrum of services offered to people with disabilities in Ohio. We
support and will continue to promote the ability for a person and his/her family to make informed choices about the home and/or employment/day service that will best suit their needs.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact OPRA.
If you have any questions please let us know.
Thank you!
Pete
Peter J. Moore, MA
President/CEO
Ohio Provider Resource Association
1152 Goodale Boulevard
Columbus, OH 43212
Office: 614-224-6772
Cell: 614-398-8353
