Medicaid Managed Care - U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging

835
Over the past two years, the National Association of State Directors of Developmental
Disabilities Services (NASDDDS) has devoted a considerable amount of time and resources
to assessing the pros and cons of using managed care techniques to reconfigure
the delivery of services and supports to people with developmental disabilities. Among the
results of this work to date are:
- the preparation and distribution of the nation's first comprehensive position
statement on managed care and long-term supports for individuals with
developmental disabilities;
the publication of a groundbreaking guidebook on managed care and developmental
disabilities services,* which has been widely acclaimed and frequently
cited as the seminal work on the subject;
the co-sponsorship of six national and statewide training seminars on managed
long-term supports,* as well as participating in literally scores of similar
workshops and meetings sponsored by other organizations; and
the provision of technical assistance to more than a dozen states that are in
various stages of exploring the prospects of restructuring their MR/DD service
systems along manged care lines.
Based on these experiences and the realities of the current public policymaking environment,
we are convinced that:
(a) over the next few years many states will be forced to restructure the financing
and delivery of long-term supports to persons with developmental disabilities in
order to avoid a steady deterioration in the quality and accessibility of services;
and
(b) the intelligent, value-based adaptation of managed care techniques can play an
important role in enabling public developmental disabilities systems to respond
effectively to this challenge.
* This work was undertaken in collaboralion wih the Human serices Research Instute. Inc. of Cambridge. Massadussetts.