Home and Community Based Settings (HCBS) Lifespan Project State-Wide Listening Session

Home and Community Based Settings (HCBS) Lifespan Project State-Wide Listening Session

Please join the Department of Health and Human Services? Offices of Aging and Disability Services (OADS), Child and Family Services (OCFS), and MaineCare Services (OMS) on October 27^th at 4 p.m. for a presentation and listening session on a proposed Lifespan Project for individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD).?? Maine is pleased to announce we have hired Dr. Lisa Mills to assist with this exciting project.? Dr.? Mills has worked with and for people with IDD for more than 30 years, including work with state Medicaid and IDD agencies on innovations in services, supports, funding strategies, and other solutions to better and more seamlessly meet the needs and goals of individuals with IDD across their lifespans. ?Dr. Mills will facilitate this session and provide a summary of feedback on the Lifespan project previously gathered at three regional sessions with waiver members and families and three sessions with MaineCare providers.? This session will also provide an opportunity for participants to share their initial reactions to the feedback gathered from around the state as well as hear about next steps and a proposed timeline of the project.

The proposed project will support several goals, many of which have been communicated as priorities by stakeholders, including:

Greater Flexibility to Address Goals and Needs that Naturally Change Across the Lifespan ? The Lifespan project will consider the changing goals and needs of Individuals with IDD and Autism, such as those based on age.
Improved Transition and In-Home Services ? The Lifespan project will strengthen current efforts to support successful transition from childhood to adulthood by including children starting at either 14 or 16 (to be determined).? In-home supports, including supports for learning skills for community living, and employment services could begin at transition-age (when they are most effective for ensuring successful employment in adulthood) and could continue seamlessly into adulthood.?
Innovation ? The Lifespan project will be a vehicle for innovations for waiver members and their families, such as tiered shared living services, enhanced medical and behavioral health supports, self-direction, innovative employment supports, and more independent and supported living options. In different ways, these innovations offer strategies that can be part of the solution to the workforce shortages currently faced across the state and nation.

October 27 from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Registration Link: https://mainestate.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYof-urrzwtGNyBS2qT8zcMrZu3d8u5Nn2s

If you require accommodation, such as real time transcription and captioning (CART) or American Sign Language (ASL) or other language interpretation, please contact Miranda Whalen at [email protected] by October 17^th.